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TWENTIETH CENTURY TEXT-BOOKS 

EDITED BY 

A. F. NIGHTINGALE, Ph.D., LL.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS 



TWENTIETH CENTURY TEXT=BOOKS 
OF HISTORY 



A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. By 

Andrew C. McLaughlin, A.M., LL.B., Professor 
of American History, University of Michigan. 
Illustrated, Cloth, $1.40. 

A HISTORY OF THE BRITISH NATION. By 

Cte:orge M. Wrong, M.A., Professor of ni.story, 
University of Toronto. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.30. 

A HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. By Dana 
Carleton Munro, A.m., Professor of European 
Histoi-y, University of Wisconsin. Illustrated, 
Cloth, 90 cents. 

A HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE. By Merrick 
Whitcomb, Ph.D., Professor of Modern History, 
University of Cincinnati. Illustrated, Cloth, $1.10. 

MUNRO'S MIDDLE AGES AND WHITCOMB'S 
MODERN EUROPE in one volume. Cloth, $1.50. 

LIFE OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. By Charles 
Burton Gulick, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of 
Greek in Harvard University. Illustrated, Cloth, 
$1.40. 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 



PAGB 



I. — Discovery and exploration 1 

II.— The Southern colonies— 1607-1700 .... 28 

III.— The New England colonies— 1607-1700 ... 67 

IV.— The Middle colonies— 1609-1700 97 

V. — History of the colonies in the eighteenth century. 116 

VI.— France and England— 1608-1763 129 

VII.— Social, industrial, and political condition of the 

colonies in 1760 151 

VIII.— Causes of the Revolution 169 

IX.— The Revolution— 17^5-1783 190 

X.— The Confederation and the Constitution— 1781-1789 . 215 
XL— Federal supremacy— Organization of , the Govern- 
ment— 1789-1801 233 

Xn.--THE supremacy of the Republicans— Foreign com- 
plications— War— 1801-1817 260 

XIII.— Political and industrial reorganization— 1817-1829. 296 
XIV. — Democracy and slavery — Industrial and economic 
controversies — The annexation of Texas — 1829- 

1845 322 

XV. — Territorial expansion— Shall slave territory be 

extended!— 1845-1861 359 

XVI.— Secession and civil war— 1861-1865 . . . .417 

XVII.— Political and social reconstruction— 1867-1877 . 469 

XVIII.— The new nation— 1877-1909 ...... 499 

XIX. — Conclusion ." 545 

Appendix 558 

Index 583 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIOlSrS. 



PAGE 

George Washington Frontispiece 

Restoration of a Norse ship 5 

Building a ship of the fifteenth century 9 

Earliest engraved likeness of Christopher Columbus ... 11 

Drawing attributed to Columbus 17 

Facsimile of the sentence in which America was first named . 21 

The house where Columbus died 27 

Captain John Smith 39 

Captain John Smith's adventures 40, 43 

Sir Walter Raleigh 66 

First page of the Bradford manuscript 73 

John Winthrop 81 

John Winthrop, Jr 87 

Peter Stuyvesant 103 

William Penn .110 

Title-page of the Frame of Government of Pennsylvania . .112 

Penn's house in Philadelphia 115 

James Oglethorpe , . .126 

Christ Church, Boston , . . 128 

Defeat of the Iroquois . . ■ . . . . „ . . 131 

Samuel Adams » . . . . 152 

Gunston Hall 155 

New York city in 1732 . , 161 

Benjamin Franklin , . . . .162 

Franklin's birthplace 162 

William and Mary College . . ' 168 

Patrick Henry 170 

James Otis 174 

A newspaper broadside on the day before the Stamp Act went 

into effect 176 

Handbill issued to check opposition to the Stamp Act . . .177 
Handbill announcing repeal of the Stamp Act . . , . 179 



HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATIO>J. 

PAGB 
T.. , • , . , 180 

John Dickinson . c{o 

Portion of a handbill recalling the Boston massacre . . . ^o- 

The Boston massacre ' ' 191 

The battle of Lexington • ' J • * iqa-^" 

Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence . facing iJbr 

Robert Morris ^^^ 

Nathanael Greene ° ' -f • ' 214/ 

A page of Washington's accounts . o . . • J"^***^ ^^^ 

James Wilson ^^5 

t^uuverneur Morris '226 

Cuts'^'fromi Boston newspaper published while the Constitution ^^^^ 

was being ratified ^^^ 

John Jay ^^^ 

Wall Street in 1789 ^^^ 

Henry Knox ^^^ 

Alexander Hamilton ^ 

The Campus Martins, Marietta, Ohio, 1798 '^ 

John Adams ^^^ 

Reception of Washington at Trenton, 1789 ^^^ 

Thomas Jefferson ^^^ 

Albert Gallatin ^ 

John Marshall ^ g 

James Madison ^34 

The frigate Constitution • • ' qqk 

The house where the Treaty of Ghent was discussed . . . ^J^ 

James Monroe ' ^ g 

Cincinnati in 1810 ^^^ 

Henry Clay . g^^ 

John Quincy Adams ^^^ 

John Randolph " * , " ^^ ' * qia 

Advertisement of the first passenger train in Massachusetts . . dlb 

Marietta, Ohio, in early days ^^^ 

Andrew Jackson ^^^ 

John C. Calhoun ^^^ 

Daniel Webster ^^^ 

William Lloyd Garrison 

The first message sent by the Morse telegraph ' ' ' gg^ 

Winfield Scott ^^^ 

Zachary Taylor 



TWENTIETH CENTURY TEXT-BOOKS 

A HISTORY OF 
THE AMERICAN NATION 



BY 

ANDREW c. McLaughlin 

PROFESSOR, AND HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT, OF HISTORY 
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 




NEW YORK 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1909 






Copyright, 1899, 1905, 1908, 1909, 

By d. appleton and company. 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Coiiies P'-Ct'i^ed 

MAY 241909 

Copy 






CL/\S47 A XXc N 



PREFACE. 



The purpose of this book is to trace the main outlines 
of national development, to show how the American people 
came to be what they are. These main outlines include 
the struggle of the nations of western Europe for possession 
of the New World and the final victory of England over 
France ; the foundation of English colonies and their de- 
velopment as effective instruments for winning and hold- 
ing dominion for the English king; the steady progress 
of these colonies in strength and self-reliance until they 
were fit for independence ; the growth of political ideas and 
governmental forms in preparation for the organization of 
the new republic ; the separation from the mother country 
and the assertion of distinct nationality ; the difiiculties 
and disorders of the confederate period, when the country 
presented the " awful spectacle " of a " nation without a 
national government " ; the finding of suitable and proper 
political organization by the adoption of the Constitution 
of the United States ; the effort to maintain national inde- 
pendence and to keep free from entangling alliances with 
Europe at a period when much of the civilized world was 
at war, and the nations of Europe had neither respect nor 
regard for the feeble democracy on this side of the ocean ; 



iv HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

the continuing problem as to whether the American repub- 
lic, stretching over so wide a territory and embracing so 
many interests, could continue to exist or would be broken 
into pieces by the operation of local prejudices and jeal- 
ousies — a problem that became more serious after 1820, when 
it began to come home to the minds of men that the North 
and South, though not legally separated, were actually 
divergent ; the growth of slavery and of antislavery senti- 
ment and the gradual separation of the sections, until the 
South sought to sever the bonds of union and to establish 
a proslavery confederacy ; the declaration of the civil war 
that there must be one nation, and that, as a house divided 
against itself will surely fall and a nation can not exist half 
slave and half free, the nation should be wholly free ; the 
events of the period of reconciliation that followed after 
strife, a period during which the two sections were welded 
anew into a nation stronger and sounder than ever before. 
The main outlines of national progress must also show 
how American territory has been extended ; how the Flori- 
das, Louisiana, Texas, Oregon, California and the great 
West, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, became part of the 
United States, and how Western expansion has gone on until 
now the newest West is in the farthest Orient. 

I have endeavored in this volume to mark out these 
different phases of progress, and hope that I have not been 
unsuccessful. I have sought chiefly so to narrate the events 
of the past that the reader will come to an appreciation of 
his political surroundings and of the political duties that 
devolve upon him. For this reason especial attention has 
been paid to political facts, to the rise of parties, to the 
issues involved in elections, to the development of govern- 



PREFACE. y 

mental machinery, and, in general, to questions of govern- 
ment and administration. While all references to indus- 
trial changes and facts of interest in industrial history have 
not been omitted, those events have been selected which 
seem to have the most marked effect on the progress or the 
make-up of the nation. Isolated and unrelated facts in any 
field of historical inquiry do not constitute history. 

The short lists of references which appear here and there 
throughout this volume contain only a few of the best and 
most readable books. As a rule, only those are mentioned 
that are easily accessible, and that are of such a character 
that high-school pupils will be likely to read them and en- 
joy them. A small pamphlet has been prepared to accom- 
pany this volume, which will, it is thought, be of service to 
teachers. It contains a bibliography and list of topics for 
outside study, suggestions on methods of teaching, and 
kindred matter. 

It is to be hoped that the illustrative material contained 
in this volume will prove to be truly illustrative and help- 
ful. I have sought to select only trustworthy portraits of 
leading persons, and a few pictures that have in themselves 
historical value, either because they are contemporary rep- 
resentations of a situation or because they actually repro- 
duce a past condition. Merely imaginative pictures which 
have no real historical value are altogether out of place in a 
high-school text-book. A great deal of time and patient 
work have been expended on the preparation of the maps, 
and while one can hardly dare hope that they are absolutely 
without error, I trust that they will be found, on the whole, 
accurate, truthful, and illustrative. 

I desire to express my thanks to Prof. Isaac N. Dem- 



yi HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

mon, who kindly read the whole of my manuscript. I 
received many helpful suggestions from the editors of the 
series. I wish to make special acknowledgment to Prof. 
Burke A. Hinsdale, who examined my manuscript with 
care, and gave me valuable advice both as to content and 
as to method of treatment. 

Acknowledgments are due to Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
the publishers of Winsor's Narrative and Critical History 
of America and of Winsor's Christopher Columbus, for per- 
mission to reproduce the picture of Columbus, page 11, and 
two of the old maps, also to Osgood & Co., publishers of 
AVinsor's Memorial History of Boston, and to the Magazine 
of American History for two or three of the illustrations in 
the text. 

Short as this book is and carefully as it has been writ- 
ten, I do not expect to find it faultless, and I shall be under 
obligation to any one who will point out its mistakes. The 
necessary brevity makes perfect accuracy of statement very 
difiBcult, inasmuch as less than the whole truth is sometimes 
as bad as falsehood. 

University of Michigan, 3Iarch 1, 1809. 




TROPIC OF 



CANCEf! 



1 3^'^-\ 



ITIsnTED STATES 



SCALE OF MILES 



iOO 500 



PREFACE TO THE TWENTIETH EDITION. 



Slight changes have been made in this volume at va- 
rious times, and new bibliographical references have been 
occasionally made when useful books appeared. In tlie 
preparation of the tenth edition, I modified the text some- 
what more extensively, chiefly by adding a few needful 
paragraphs, especially in the period from 1774-1789. I 
have now brought the narrative down to March 4, 1909, 
and altered the statistical table so as to include recent data. 
In sending this edition to the press, I cannot refrain from 
a word of thanks to the many teachers who have assured 
me that the book has been useful and helpful in their 
work— the important, if difficult, work of instructing boys 
and girls in the main facts of their country's history, of 
leading them to see the meaning of America as that mean- 
ing is disclosed by the story of national effort and progress, 
of making them more effective citizens as they learn to 
know something of the life of the nation of which their 

own lives are a part. 

A. C. McLaughlin. 

Chicago, March 25, 1»09. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xiii 

PAQB 

William H. Seward 380 

Charles Sumner 396 

James Buchanan 398 

John Brown's fort 408 

Newspaper announcement of the secession of South Carolina . 411 

Jefferson Davis 415 

Abraham Lincoln 417 

Joseph E. Johnston 424 

George B. McClellan 425 

Edwin M. Stanton 429 

Albert Sidney Johnston 430 

Union gunboats on the Cumberland 431 

Robert E. Lee .437 

Stonewall Jackson 439 

Lincoln's draft of the Emanci])atiun Proclamation . . . 442 

George G. Meade 444 

George H. Thomas 447 

Philip H. Sheridan 455 

The Confederate ram Tennessee 45G 

John B. Hood 458 

William T. Sherman 459 

Salmon P. Chase 461 

Ulysses S. Grant 482 

Samuel J. Tilden 495 

Buildings of the Centennial Exposition, 1876 498 

Rutherford B. Hayes 499 

James A. Garfield 507 

Grover Cleveland , . . . 511 

Benjamin Harrison 515 

William McKinley 529 

The Maine . . . 531 

The Court of Honor, Columbian Exposition, 1893 . -. . . 557 



LIST OF MAPS AISTD TABLES. 



Physical map of the United States (colored) . 

Political map of the United States (colored) . 

Linguistic stocks of American Indians (colored) 

Ptoleray map .... 

Toscanelli's map 

Western half of Lenox globe . 

Mereator map of 1541 

Western half of the Ribero map 

Territory granted by the charter of 160G 

Territory granted by the charter of 1609 

Maryland grant 

Grant of the Carolinas 

John Smith's map of New England . 
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 
Territory granted to Mason and Gorges . 

New England, 1650 

Van der Donck's map of New Netherlands, 1656 

European possessions, 1650 (colored) 

East Jersey and West Jersey .... 

The Iroquois country 

The Joliet map 

La Hontan's map of Canada 



European claims and possessions, 1755 (colored) 
Theater of the French and Indian War . 
Contemporary plan of the siege of Quebec 
Central North America, 17G3-'83 (colored) 
Boston and surrounding towns 
Boston and vicinity, 1776 . 
New York and vicinity, 1776 . 
The Revolution in the Middle States 
The Revolution in the South . 
The United States, 1783 (colored) . 



Facing title 
facing 
facing 



142, 144, 
facing 



facing 
facing 



VI 

2 

13 

14 

22 

25 

26 

35 

41 

56 

62 

68 

86 

90 

93 

99 

101 

106 

132 

134 

137 

141 

146 

146 

149 

193 

194 

198 

197 

208 

215 



LIST OF MAPS AND TABLES. x^ 

PAQE 

Distribution of population, 1790 (colored) 231 

The election of 1796 351 

Central North America, 1803 (colored) 2G3 

Route of Lewis and Clark 270 

The war in the West, 1812 282 

War on Niagara frontier 283 

War on northern frontier , . . . 286 

War in the South 288 

Vicinity of Baltimore and Washington, 1812 289 

Cruise of the Essex 290 

Western extension of population in 1820 (colored) .... 299 

The Missouri compromise line 305 

The election of 1828 319 

Distribution of population in 1840 (colored) 337 

Texas 357 

The Mexican War 366 

Acquisition of territory in the West, 1803-53 .... 370 

The Western Territories, 1854 . 390 

The election of 1856 397 

Western extension of population, 1860 (colored) .... 405 

The United States in 1861 (colored) .... facing 416 

Charleston harbor 419 

The civil war in the East .,,,.... 423 

The war in the West . , 426 

Battle of Shiloh 433 

Battle of Hampton Roads 435 

The Peninsula campaign 436 

Battle of Fredericksburg . . 440 

Battle of Gettysburg 445 

Siege of Vicksburg 446 

Historical sketch of the war 453 

The campaigns of the civil war (colored) . . . facing 458 

Western extension of population in 1870 (colored) . . . 491 

The election of 1876 497 

The election of 1896 . , . 527 

Porto Rico . 532 

Philippine Islands 534 

Hawaiian Islands 536 

Density of population in 1909 .546 

Movement of the center of population 547 

Diagrams illustrating progress in industry and commerce . . 549 
2 



xvi HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

PAGE 

Teachers in common schools and appropriations for schools . . 552 
Relative areas of the States of the Union and European States . 558 
Summary of popular and electoral votes for President and Vice- 
President of the United States 559-563 

Summary of the States and Territories 564, 565 

Cities of over 100,000 inhabitants in 1900 565 

United States, showing the territorial acquislLiuns previous to 

1898 facing 582 



IIC^.A ,'vil 




HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



CHAPTER I. 
Discovery and Exploration. 

The Western Hemisphere lias been the dwelling place of 
men for a great many centuries. Long before the existence 

of the Western World was known to Europeans, 
Antiquity of \^ f^^^t before Europe itself was civilized or 

had a history, human beings wandered over 
these continents. It is even confidently asserted that men 
were living here in the glacial age, when the northern part 
of North America, nearly as far south as the present site 
of Philadelphia, was swathed in a great ice sheet. As to 
this there are differences of opinion among scholars, but it 
is plain that the antiquity of man in America is so great 
that it does not furnish a problem for the historian, for he 
deals, in the main, with the work and progress of civilized 
men, who are formed into political bodies or states. 

There seems likewise little need of prolonged discussion 
concerning the original home of these primitive men. For 

the ethnologists this problem is full of interest. 
Origin of man ^^^ could they reach substantial agreement 

m America. *^ '^ 

the student of history would accept their con- 
clusions; but special students of the subject seem hope- 
lessly at variance. Men may have made their way hither 
from Asia thousands of years ago, when there was a con- 
tinuous strip of land where the Aleutian Islands now form, 
as it were, a dotted line between the Old AVorld and the New. 



2 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION, 

The primitive inhabitants of Central America may be of 
the same stock as the inhabitants ol some portions of 
southern Asia ; and, indeed, some scholars assert that they 
find striking similarities betweeti these races. These peoples 
may have come to this continent by way of the islands of the 
central Pacific. But of all this there is no substantial proof. 
It seems probable that there was some contact, in times far 
past, between the civilizations or, as we may more properly 
say, the " culture " of southern Asia, or even of Africa, and 
that of America; but here again one can speak with no 
certainty. It seems, on the other hand, quite within reason 
that the semicivilization of Mexico and Peru might have 
grown up without influence from other continents. 

When the New World became known to Europeans the 
natives of some portions of it were quite far advanced to- 
ward civilization. This was especially true, as 
Peru and j^^^g already been intimated, of Peru and Mexico. 

The people of those regions were far from sav- 
agery. The people of Peru had fine buildings and magnifi- 
cent roads ; they worked skillfully in metals, fashioning 
beautiful vases, or forging arms for war and tools for the 
husbandman. Gold, silver, lead, and copper were known 
and used by them. They raised great crops of corn and 
potatoes, and kept vast flocks of llamas and alpacas. Their 
language was rich and copious, and capable of expressing 
fine shades of thought and noble ideas. Though they had 
no system of writing,* they seem to have composed and re- 
membered dramas, poems, and histories. The Mexicans 
were not far behind the Peruvians in advaxicement. 

* A curious method of keeping accounts and perhaps recording 
events is described in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, vol. i, p. 
243. The " quijnis " used for this purpose was a set of ropes in which 
knots could be tied at different places. Mr. Markham suggests that 
the system of accounting was better than the exchequer tallies used in 
England even down to the nineteenth century. See " Tally " in the 
dictionary. 




110 Loiifegtude 105 West 100 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 3 

Many persons have supposed that there existed in 
North America a race of " mound builders," who had 
reached a high plane of culture, before the 
MldTrT^ advent of the red Indian. To this race 
have been attributed the artificial mounds 
and earthworks that are found in considerable numbers 
especially throughout the eastern portion of the Missis- 
sippi Valley™ The evidence seems conclusive, however, 
that the mound builders were really Indians; but it is 
not impossible that at an earlier day they were some- 
what more advanced than when they became known to 
Europeans. 

Of the Indians of "NTorth America with whom the Euro- 
pean people came into contact we may mention especially 

„, ^ ,. three groups or families:* 1. The Algonquin 

The Indians, o -t ^ . , 

lamily, a numerous people occupying a large 

extent of country. Their dwelling place and hunting 

grounds reached from Hudson Bay on the north to the 

Carolinas on the south, and westward even beyond the 

Great Lakes. 2. The Muskhogees, living south of the Al- 

gonquins and north of the Gulf of Mexico. To this family 

belonged the Sominoles, Choctaws, and other tribes. 3. 

The Huron-Iroquois, who held the region south of Lakes 

Erie and Ontario and the peninsula east of Lake Huron, f 

" They formed, as it were, an island in the vast expanse of 

Algonquin population." One detached tribe of this family, 

the Tusoaroras, lived in the Carolinas ; but at a later time. 



* The teacher or student desirous of getting an idea of the extent 
and location of the Indian tribes will find interesting accounts in Park- 
man, The Conspiracy of Pontiac, vol. i, chap, i; Fiske, The Dis- 
covery of America, vol. i, chap, i; Thwaites, The Colonies, chap, i; 
Shaler, The United States of America, vol. i, chap. iv. The rela- 
tions of the French and English with the Indians is given in Winsor, 
Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. i, chap. v. 

f Generally when the Iroquois are spoken of the tribes of central 
New York are meant. 



4 HlbTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

after a disastrous war with the English settlers, they joined 
their kinsmen at the North. 

Of these groups of Indians the Iroquois were the most 
warlike. They waged almost ceaseless war on neighboring 
tribes and subdued and conquered many of 
The five them. They were bold, crafty, and cruel, gift- 

ed with great energy and considerable intelli- 
gence.* The confederacy of " five nations," who occupied 
the central part of what is now New York, was well or- 
ganized for war and conquest, and held a position of great 
military advantage at the sources of rivers that flowed 
northward to the St. Lawrence, eastward to the Hudson 
and the Atlantic, or found their way even southward to the 
Gulf.f 

The first connection between Europe and America of 
which anything is known was made by adventurous North- 
men from Iceland. In the latter part of the 
tenth century they founded settlements in 
Greenland. Possibly we may believe that Bjarni Herjulf- 
son, driven from his course on a voyage to these settlements, 
first saw the mainland of America, which proved to be not 
the shore of mountains and icy fiords, but " a land flat and 
covered with trees," several days' sail southwest from Green- 
land. Whether this tale be true or not, there is little doubt 
that about the year 1000 Leif Ericson, the son of that Eric 
the Red who had begun the settlement of Greenland, actu- 
ally found the continent and that he with a number of 
companions spent the winter somewhere upon its shores. 

* Parkman, The Jesuits in America, gives a highly entertaining 
story of the power and horrible cruelty of the Iroquois. See also Hart, 
American History told by Contemporaries, vol. i, p. 129. 

f An examination of the map will show what a center the middle of 
New York is. While the Mohawk flows eastward to the Hudson, tlie 
Susquehanna flows southeast, the group of lakes is connected with the 
St. Lawrence system, and Lake Chautauqua belongs to the Mississippi 
Valley. 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 



They found grapes in the new country, and " Leif, giving 
the country a name from its products, called it Vinland." 
In the course of a few years other Northmen came to these 
strange coasts where there were tall trees and vines. A 
settlement was made, but the settlers were attacked by the 
natives, who proved fierce and unfriendly, so that the colony 
was abandoned. 




The sagas. 



A Norse Ship of the Tenth Century. 
A restoration of the remains of an old ship found in 1880, 

The accounts of these Norse discoveries are recorded in 
Icelandic chronicles called " sagas." Many historians have 
doubted their trustworthiness, and have looked 
upon the voyages of Bjarni and Leif as mere 
mythical tales. Others have taken them too literally, have 
believed all their details, and striven to find out from their 
vague descriptions the exact place where the Northmen 
settled. The truth seems to be that there is good reason 
for believing the main outline of the story, and for think- 
ing that the hardy Vikings of the north were the first 
Europeans to catch a glimpse of the New World. They were 
of the same blood as the bold Northmen who overran Eng- 
land in successive invasions and finally established them- 



^ HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

selves there as rulers of the land, near the time when Leif 
made his famous voyage to Vinland.* 

Interesting as these discoveries may be, they are of little 
historic importance, inasmuch as the people of Europe 
Norse dis- "Viere not ready either to receive the idea of a 

coveries new world or to act upon it. The discovery 

unimportant. ^^ Columbus five hundred years later came 
upon the full flood-tide of events, in response to industrial 
needs ; it found the people eager for new tidings, and in a 
condition to appreciate in part the meaning of what was 
done and to reap advantage from the opening of new con- 
tinents. 

The movement that resulted in the discovery of Amer- 
ica was due to the spirit of enterprise and enthusiasm at 
the end of the Middle Ages. For some cen- 

-„«* « *°*^^" turies the condition and character of life in 
Bance. 

Europe had been undergoing change. Men 
were stirring to take a broader and more intelligent interest 
in themselves and their surroundings. The period from 
the beginning of the fourteenth to the middle of the six- 
teenth century is called the " Renaissance," or the new 
birth, although sometimes the word is applied to a some- 
what shorter period, and used to indicate the development 
of new interest in literature and art.f The crusades for 

* Fiske, The Discovery of America, vol. i, pp. 148-221 ; Bryant and 
Gay, Popular History of the United States, vol. i, pp. 35-68, are the 
most readable of the accounts of the Norse discoveries. See especially 
Old South Leaflets, No. 31, containing the Voyage to Vinland ; American 
History Leaflets, No. 3, containing Extracts from the Sagas ; Hart, 
American History told by Contemporaries, pp. 28-35. 

f " The term Renaissance is frequently applied at present not only 
to the new birth of art and letters, but to all the characteristics, taken 
together, of the period of transition from the Middle Ages to modern 
life. The transformation in the structure and policy of states, the pas- 
sion for discovery, the dawn of a more scientific method of observing 
man and Nature, the movement toward more freedom of intellect and 
of conscience, are part and parcel of one comprehensive change — a 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 7 

the conquest of the Holy City had aroused men to new 
speculation and thought, and had helped to bring about a 
more reasonable political situation, because they tended to 
break down the feudal system and to do away with some of 
its evils. Each European state became more strongly 
knitted together and more competent for action as the 
feudal baron lost his power. Moreover, the revival in the 
knowledge of the ancient classics encouraged freer and 
higher thinking. About 1450 the art of printing was in- 
vented, and this gave a channel for communicating new 
thoughts and ideas and announcing new discoveries and 
inventions. The times were marked by an outburst of com- 
mercial enterprise, by a zeal for a wider trade, and by a 
fresh interest in travel and discovery. 

For many centuries the people of Europe and Asia had 
carried on trade with one another, and the general effect of 

the crusades was to increase this traffic. Genoa 
theTast?^^* and Venice became great seats of commerce 

and grew rich in their traffic with the far East. 
Europe used more and more of the silks and spices of the 
Orient, and these commodities became necessities to the 
people. There were three routes of travel : one by way of 
the Black Sea and the Caspian ; another through Syria and 
the Persian Gulf; the third by the way of the Eed Sea. 
But toward the end of the Middle Ages the Ottoman Turks 
began to press forward in Asia Minor and to block the 
routes of travel, checking or making dangerous the way to 
the East. In 1453 Constantinople fell into their hands, and 
commerce in that direction was ended. Turkish corsairs 
frequented the waters of the eastern Mediterranean, and 
Europe saw herself in danger of being cut off entirely from 
the longed-for wealth of " India and Cathay." * 

change which even now has not reached its goal." (Fisher, Outlines of 
Universal History, p. 387.) 

* Cathay was the name by which China was known in Europe. 
India was a very indefinite term. 



8 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Although this commerce with the Orient was not small 
and had lasted for many years, yet in the fifteenth century 

the people of Europe knew little of India or 
Books on the China, sincc the traffic was in general carried on 

through middlemen. Accounts of the far East 
had been written by travelers, and some of them seem to 
have had influence in arousing interest in those regions. 
Chief among tliese narratives was the work of Marco Polo, 
an Italian traveler, who spent many years in China, and, 
returning to Europe, recounted strange stories of the wealth 
and glories of the Great Khan. He described not only 
China, but India, and made mention of Japan * and Java. 
This famous book was one of the greatest single contribu- 
tions ever made to geographical knowledge. Its descrip- 
tions have been found to be, on the whole, remarkably 

correct. In the next century after Marco Polo 

1299 

wrote his book, appeared the "Voyage and 
Travels of Sir John Mandeville." Such a man as the famous 
Sir John probably never existed in the flesh, any more than 
did Robinson Crusoe. The stories of which he was the hero 
were taken bodily from other writers; but the doughty 
knight, real or fictitious, was a perfect prince among story- 
tellers and was a very actual person to the men of that day, 
who read with eagerness the fascinating tales of the mar- 
velous East. . He told of pillars of gold and precious stones 
half a foot in length, of golden birds that clapped their 
wings by magic, of golden vines laden with costly jewels, 
of the fountain of youth whose waters, if one drink them 
thrice, would make one ever young, f 

* Japan liad the name Chipangu or Cipango in Marco Polo's book. 
As we shall see, Columbus thought that he had reached it, and at one 
time thought that Hayti was the famous land, where the lord of 
the island had "a great palace which is entirely roofed with fine 
gold. . . . Moreover, all the pavement of the palace, and the floors of 
its chambers, are entirely of gold in plates like slabs of stone, a good 
two fingers thick." 

f " I, John Mandeville," says the old impostor, " saw this well and 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 



9 



Eager to know a way to the East that would be free 
from the dangers of the robber Turk, men had been turn- 
ing their thoughts to new routes. Much was 
L'plSons. ^^^^ ^y Pi'i^ce Henry of Portugal who won 
,for himself the title of " Henry the Navigator." 
An earnest and enthusiastic student of geography and as^ 
tronomy, he devoted his life to directing voyages of discov- 
ery and exploration along the western coast of Africa. 







Building a Ship of the Fifteenth Century. 

Year after year daring Portuguese sailors in their little 
ships crept farther and farther southward, and returned to 
announce to the great navigator the results of their expedi- 
tions. Henry died in 1460 ; but Portugal continued to be 
the home of bold and progressive mariners, and the air was 



drank thereof thrice, and all my fellows, and evermore since that time 
I feel that I am better and haler." Marco Polo's Travels were written 
in 1299 in the prison at Genoa. Read Marco Polo's Account of Japan 
and Java, in Old South Leaflets, No. 32. 

It is noteworthy that Mandeville declares that " men may well per- 
ceive that the land and sea are of round shape and form," and that 
he tells of a man who wandered quite around the earth and returned 
to his own home again. 



iO HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

filled with stories of discovery and plans for further achieve 
ment. At the very end of the century (1497) Vasco da 
Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, made his way to 
the harbor of Calicut,* and returned with a cargo of the 
coveted spices and jewels of India. 

From the dawn of history the nations of Europe had 
stood with their backs to the Atlantic. The Mediterranean 
was to them the center of the earth. The voy- 
EesTits. ^^^^ ^^^ discoveries of the Portuguese navi- 

gators brought new knowledge of strange coasts and helped 
to drive away from men's minds the great fear of the Sea 
of Darkness, which was supposed to contain all kinds of 
dreadful monsters and threaten all sorts of fearful dangers. 
Europe began to face about and to look out upon the great 
western ocean, whose coast had for so many centuries been 
the limit of the civilized world. 

Thus the mariners of Portugal found a new way to the 
Indies ; but before they were successful in finding thig 
southern route, Columbus made his great effort 
to reach the East by way of the West, finding 
not the land he sought, but discovering a new world whose 
treasures in the course of years filled the coffers of Spain to 
overflowing. Both the time and place of Columbus's birth 
are uncertain. The probability is that Genoa was his birth- 
place. Certainly he spent his early years there, when he 
was not upon the sea. When he was born we do not know, 
perhaps as early as 144G ; some recent investigations indi- 
cate that it may have been as late as 1451. f 

* Not Calcutta. 

f A valuable account of Columbus and other explorers is found in 
Bourne's Spain in America, and an interesting sketch of Columbus in 
Adams's Christopher Columbus. The account in Fiske's The Discovery 
of America, chap, v, is entertaining. Many fascinating pages will be 
found in Irving's Life of Columbus. The great critical authority is 
Justin Winsor's Christopher Columbus. See also Life of Christopher 
Columbus, by Clements R. Markham. 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLOKATION. 



11 



His early education was not entirely neglected, but it 
was neither broad nor thorough. He acquired a readmg 




THE EAKLIE.T ENOHAVED LIKENESS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 



knowledge of Latin and became a good penman. He was 
early interested in the study of geography, and 
EdDcatioB. somewhat later seems to have gained skill as 
a maker of maps and charts, for he himself says : "God 
Lr given me a genius and hands apt to draw his globe, 



12 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

and on it the cities, rivers, islands, and ports — all in their 
proper places." Even before reaching manhood he entered 
upon a seafaring career, and seems to have taken part in 
ventures of a turbulent if not piratical nature.* He be- 
came a bold seaman and navigator, and there is some evi- 
dence that in one voyage he sailed even as far as Iceland, a 
fact which has made some persons believe that he gained 
from these Northmen a knowledge of lands in the western 
ocean. He went to live in Portugal about 1473, and there 
began to take consuming interest in the new discoveries 
and in the search for a new route to the Indies. 

For some years he was engaged in various commercial 
enterprises ; but he also read and studied, and became con- 
vinced that great discoveries were to be made 
s am 1 ion. ^^^^ upon the Sea of Darkness, the great Atlan- 
tic, whose terrors still, in spite of the daring achievements 
of the Portuguese, held men in dread and awe. Columbus 
came to the belief that the shortest and best way to reach 
the East was to sail west, and he gave himself up to the 
accomplishment of this great purpose. 

At that time people generally believed the earth to be a 
great plane, a vast flat surface. With the exception of the 
information given to the world by Marco Polo, 
'ofth?earth^*^ "^^^^ important additions had been made to 
geograpliical knowledge for a thousand years. 
The famous map of Claudius Ptolemy, made about the mid- 
dle of the second century, fairly represented tlie general 
idea concerning the earth at the beginning of the fifteenth 
century. We must not think, however, that the belief in 
the earth's roundness, or the idea that India lay to the west 
of Spain, was original with Columbus. He carried the 
thought into action; he had the needed courage and per- 
sistency; he had the steadfast and enduring faith. But 

* " There was a spioe of piracy even in the soberest ventures of com- 
merce " (Winsor's Columbus, p. 81). 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 



13 



;' belief that the earth was a sphere was a very old one. 
r-Lstotle, the great Greek philosopher, who lived in the 
irth century before Christ, spoke of this idea as if it 
re not new, and gave, himself, substantial grounds for 
Iding it.* Other ancient writers mentioned the thought, 
d it did not die out among learned men even in the Middle 




Sketch of the Ptolemy MAP.f 



With the revival of learning it once more appeared 
in published writings, and Columbus seems to have eagerly 
scanned and pondered these pages. 

Shortly after going to Portugal, when Columbus was 
hardly thirty years of age, he obtained a letter from a famous 

Florentine astronomer named Toscanelli. It 
Ster^^ ^ ^^^ ^^ large part a copy of a letter sent by 

Toscanelli to a man at the Portuguese court, 
who had written at the request of the king to obtain the opin- 
ion of the great astronomer on the subject of the shortest 



* " Wherefore," says Aristotle, " we may judge that those persons 
who connect the region in the neighborhood of the Pillars of Hercules 
with that toward India, and who assert that in this way the sea is one, 
do not assert things very improbable." 

f This is only a simplified sketch of the Ptolemy map. 
3 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 15 

route to the Indies. Thia was one of the most important 
letters ever written, for it contained quite positive assurances 
that the earth was round, and that the way to India was west- 
ward across the Atlantic. " And do not wonder," said the 
letter, " at my calling west the parts where the spices are, 
whereas they are commonly called east^ because to persons 
sailing persistently westward those parts will be found by 

courses on the under side of the earth." Tosca- 

nelli sent a chart also, and Columbus used this 
as a guide in his great undertaking. Now, fortunately, this 
chart was far wrong in one particular. Although the size 
of the earth was given not far from right, Asia was so ex- 
tended that the coast of China, or Cathay, was put about 
where the Gulf of California really is, and Cipangu, or 
Japan, east of Mexico. To reach Asia, therefore, seemed 
not such an insurmountable task as would have been the 
case had the coast of China occupied on the map its real 
position. Moreover, Toscanelli placed on the chart certain 
mythical islands * which he thousfb^ existed. " So," said 
he, "through the unknown parts h^l the route the stretches 
of sea to be traversed are not great." 

Columbus was now wholly given up to the idea of find- 
ing India across the Atlantic. He tried for years to obtain 

assistance and authority for the task. He ap- 
seekraid! plied for aid to the monarchs of Portugal and 

Spain, and seems to have sent his brother to 
London to seek aid at the court of England. Success 
finally came to reward his patience and persistence. Ar- 
rangements were made for the expedition with the help 
and encouragement of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. 

On the 3d of August, 1492, three vessels started on a 
momentous voyage in search of the spices and gold of the 
East by way of the West. The largest vessel, the Santa 
Maria, " a dull vessel," we are told, " and unfit for discov- 

* See on the map St. Brandan's Jnsel and Antilia 



16 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

ery," was Columbus's flag-ship. According to modern esti- 
mates, made from descriptions of her size, she was not much 
over sixty-three feet in length and twenty in 

His first width. The Pinta, commanded by Martin Pin- 

voyage. . . 

zon, and the Nina, commanded by Vincente 

Pinzon, were still smaller, and without decks amidships. 
The little fleet set sail to the Canaries, remained there for 
a time, and early in September stood boldly forth on the 
waste of unknown waters. As the weeks went by the sea- 
men lost patience, but the courage of Columbus did not 
wane. " The people could endure no longer ; they com- 
plained of the length of the voyage. But the admiral 
cheered them . . . the best way he could, giving them good 
hopes of the advantages they might gain from it. He 
added that, however much they might complain, he had to 
go to the Indies, and that he would go on until he found 
them, with the help of our Lord." * 

Land was discovered early in the morning of the 12th 
of October. Columbus disembarked and " took possession 
of the island for the king and queen." f He 
had not discovered India or China, as we well 
know, but had come upon an outlying island of a new con- 
tinent, a world inhabited by barbarous and savage men, 
without the marble palaces and the golden wonders de- 
scribed by Marco Polo and Mandeville. Columbus, how- 
ever, believed that he had reached the Indies. Before 

* This quotation is from the journal of Columbus, which has not 
been preserved in its original form, but was abridged by Las Casas, 
who wrote a great book on the History of the Indies in the sixteenth 
century, and was himself one of the noblest characters of the day. The 
student will be interested in With the Admiral of the Ocean Sea, by 
Mackie. P. L. Ford, Writings of Columbus, can be read with profit. 
The journal is printed in the Hakluyt Society Publications, and is 
edited by C. R. Markham. 

f Upon which one of the Bahamas Columbus first landed is not 
known. The weight of authority is now in favor of Watling's Island. 
See Adams's Columbus, p. 88, where the evidence is summarized. 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 



17 



returning, the voyagers visited other islands, discovering 
Hayti and Cuba. Early in 1493 Columbus set sail for 



BccmmM 




Feom the Letter to Sanxis, 1493. 
The pictures contained in the published letter are supposed to have been 
made after drawings by Columbus. 

home, and after various adventures reached Spain in 
safety, where he was received with triumphal honors 



Ig HISTORY OF THE AT^ERICAN NATION. 

as the discoverer of a new route to the riches of the far 

East.* 

The bold explorer made three other voyages, always 

hoping to find the wealth and glories of Cathay. On his 

second voyage he established a colony in 

?*^«^ . Hayti.t On his third (1498) he discovered the 

discoveries. j \ \ / 

mainland of South America, but he still sup- 
posed the land to be part of Asia, or in the near neighbor- 
hood of the wished-for places. Shortly after returning from 

his fourth expedition he died (1506) in Spain, 

neglected, poor, and broken-hearted ; for he 
found little favor with the people when it was seen that 
he had not brought them the gold and jewels and precious 
fabrics of the Orient, but had " discovered the lands of de- 
ceit and disappointment — a place of sepulchres and wretch- 
edness to Spanish hidalgos." 

It is important to remember that the desire of Europe 
was not to discover a new continent, but to reach Asia. 

Men believed that the new discoveries lay 
^^^rAsia along the coast of China, and the idea only 

gradually took hold of them that the lands 
out in the western ocean were parts of a new continent. 
South America, which became known in rough outline be- 
fore the northern continent was well known, was supposed 
to be a new island or a projection from Asia ; and after the 
coast line quite well to the north was put down on maps 
and charts, the hope of many voyagers was to get around 
these troublesome barriers or through them, and to find 
their way to the coveted riches of India. Even after Euro- 
pean settlements were made in the new land there were 
many patient explorations of bays and rivers in hopes of 

* Columbus's own account of his discovery will be found in his 
letter to Santangel. It is published in American History Leaflets, 
No. 1. 

f Columbus left some men on the island on his first voyage, but 
found only ruins of their houses and fort when he returned. 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 19 

finding a thoroughfare. Slowly, through the process of 
decades, the Western World was uncovered and opened up 
to be a part and parcel of the known geography of the 
earth. 

Before Columbus completed his four voyages other im- 
portant discoveries had been made. In 1497 the mainland 
of North America was discovered by an expedi- 
tion sailing from Bristol, England. The leader 
of this expedition was John Cabot. His son Sebastian 
may have accompanied him. The land first seen by them 
was Cape Breton, or Labrador.* An entry in the privy 
purse of shrewd Henry VII notes that £10 were given " hym 
that founde the new isle '' — not a magnificent gift in light 
of the fact that upon this voyage of the Cabots England 
later based her claim to the whole continent of North 
America. Cabot also received a small pension, charged 
upon the revenues of the port of Bristol. The following 
year he seems to have started upon another voyage, but 
nothing more is known of him.f 

There is some reason for believing that the mainland of 
South America was first visited by an expedition that set 

* The date generally given for this first sight of the main coast 
of North America is the 24th of June. Possibly, as recent investiga- 
tions seem to show, the discovery was even earlier than this. There 
is some difference of opinion, too, as to whether the landfall was 
Cape Breton, or Labrador. Some of the uncertainties are well put in 
Mr. Winsor's words : " If we believe Sebastian's own words as reported, 
he accompanied his father on his first and second voyages. If we 
believe contemporary witnesses, and some are bitterly reproachful in 
their negatives, Sebastian was never on the coast of North America at 
all " (Winsor, in a paper read before the New York Historical Society, 
November 18, 1896). See for the Cabots, Winsor, Narrative and Critical 
History of America, vol. iii, pp. 1-7; Fiske, The Discovery of America, 
vol. ii, pp. 1-16. 

f Contemporary accounts of the Cabot voyage in Hart, American 
History told by Contemporaries, vol. i, pp. 69-71. There is some evi- 
dence that Cabot returned from the second voyage. 



20 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

sail from Cadiz, May 10, 1497. Americus Yespucius,* a 

Florentine merchant and traveler, speaks of this voyage, 

in which he claims to have taken part, and 

Vespucius. ^^y^ ^^^^ "^^ ^^® ^^^ ^^ twenty-seven days" 
they came " upon a coast which we thought to 
be that of a continent." If such a voyage and such discov- 
eries were made, then these navigators, and not the Cabots 
or Columbus, were the first since the Northmen to see 
the mainland of the new world. Concerning these matters 
students disagree, but many of the most learned believe 
that Vespucius never made this voyage, and is chargeable 
with willful deceit. That he did make later important dis- 
coveries, however, is beyond question. In 1501 he sailed 
along the eastern coast of South America, and 
nevfworld" * *^®^' ^^^^^^ ^J violent gales, went far into the 
southern seas, probably even to the Island of 
Georgia, a land not rediscovered until nearly three cen- 
turies afterward. Within a short time he made still another 
voyage to the southern continent. Even if he did make 
the voyage of 1497, it was these later explorations, and not . 
th3 e^rly one, that gave him fame, for he wrote a short 
description of what he had seen, and his accounts of far- 
off lands that were new and strange were eagerly read by 
those who looked upon Columbus as the unfortunate dis- 
coverer of an insalubrious archipelago upon the coast of 
Asia. His story, written in a private letter, was printed f 
and widely circulated. In 1507 a young German professor, 
living at St. Die, in the Vosges Mountains, published a 
little volume on geography, and with it some letters of 
Vespucius, and suggested that, inasmuch as a fourth part 

* This is the Latin form of the name. In Italian it is Americo or 
Amerigo Vespucci. 

f In his letter Vespucius spoke in wonder of what he saw on the 
Brazilian coast, and said, ''Novum mundum appellare licet''' — one 
might call it a new world. This letter, when published, bore the title 
Novus Mundue. 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 21 

of the earth had been discovered by Americus, it be called 
America.* This name came into general use only slowly, 

Nuc ^o Sc hg partes funt lati'us Iu{lratn?/&: alia 
quartapars per Americu Vefputiu(vt in fequenri 
bus audietur )muenta eft/qua noii video cur quis 
iure vctet ab Americo inuentorc fagacis ingeni) vi 
AmcriV ro Amerigen quafi Americi terra / fiue Americam 
ca dicendatcu Sc Europa Sc Afia a mulieribus fua for 

tita Tint noniina.Eius fitu dc gentis mores ex bis bi 
nis Amend nauigationibus qusc fequuntliquidc 
intelligidatur. 

Facsimile of the Sentence in which America was first named, 

FROM THE COSMOGRAPHI^ INTRODUCTIO, 1507. 

being applied first to the unknown lands, " the Kew World " 
on the south, and then given to both continents.! 

In 1519 Ferdinand Magellan started upon a great and 
eventful voyage. He discovered the straits that bear his 

name, and, passing boldly through, crossed the 
l5T9-'2l'. broad Pacific and reached the East Indies, thus 

actually doing what Columbus had failed to do. 
Magellan himself was killed in the Philippine Islands ; but 
one of his vessels, with a remnant of her crew, sailed to 
Spain, completing the first circumnavigation of the globe. 
Judged by its results, this voyage was not so important as 
many others, but it was one of the greatest feats of bold 

* In another place is the same suggestion: "But now these parts 
have been more extensively explored, and . . . another fourth part has 
been discovered. . . . Wherefore I do not see what is rightly to hinder 
us from calling it after its discoverer, Americus, a man of sagacious 
mind, Amerige — i. e., the land of Americus, or America, since both 
Europe and Asia have got their names from women." 

f For Vespucius, see Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of 
America, vol. ii, chap. ii. Fiske, Discovery of America, vol. ii, pp. 25- 
175, especially pp. 97-105. On the naming of America, Winsor, ibid.^ 
pp. 164-169 : Fiske, ibid., pp. 107-117, 125-140. 



22 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



navigation in history. It shows how much had been done 
in this wonderful era in the course of a few years y for, fifty 




Western Half of Lenox Globe.* 



years before, the Portuguese seamen had sailed hardly more 
than halfway down the western coast of Africa. 



* This map follows a sketch given in Winsor, Narrative and Critical 
History of America, vol. ii, p. 170 (by permission of the publishers, 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co.). It is the part of a globe made about 1510 or 
1511, now in the Lenox Library, New York. It shows the Mundus 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 23 

While for nearly a century after the discovery of America 

other nations did little to get possession of dominions in 

the New World, Spain entered eagerly into the 

Spanish task. Settlements were made in the West 

exploration, 

Indies, and. bold adventurers made long journeys 

into the interior of the continents looking for the fabulous 
riches of Cathay. Ponce de Leon, seeking the fountain of 
perpetual youth, explored Florida, " the land, of Easter." * 
Balboa, from a peak in Darien, looked out upon the 
waters of the great Pacific. Somewhat later 
' Pineda entered the mouth of the Mississippi 

and called it the Rio de Santo Espiritu, the Eiver of the 
Holy Spirit. In 1539-'4:2 De Soto made his famous march 
through the southern part of what is now the United 
States. About the same time Coronado, start- 
' ing in search of the fabulous " seven cities of 

Cibola," wandered over the dreary plains and through the 
mountain defiles of the southwest. These explorations ac- 
complished little, but in Central and South America the 
Spanish soldiers won a great and wealthy empire ; Her- 
nando Cortes conquered Mexico (1519-'21) ; 
dominion. *^^® Pizarros conquered Peru (1531-'34). In 

1565 a settlement was made at St. Augustine, 
the first European settlement within the future limits of 
the United States. 

It will thus be seen that Spain occupied the islands of 
the West Indies and the semicivilized countries of the two 
continents. The Indians of the islands were 
S^adshrule ^imid, and incapable of resisting the cruel 
Spanish soldiers; the people of Mexico and 
Peru were not able to unite effectively against the invaders ; 
and so the power of Spain was established with little diffi- 

Novus of Vespucius as an island southeast of Zipangri (Japan). Other 
interesting maps will be found in Winsor, vol. ii. 

* Ponce de Leon saw Florida on Easter Day, In Spanish this day is 
Pascua Florida, the flowery passover. 



24 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

culty, and she became possessed of a great subject empire 
in the New World from which came gold and silver in 
abundance.* To govern such an empire her character 
and her condition fitted her. But the Spaniard showed no 
skill in making permanent, self-reliant settlements, that 
had within them the power of natural development and 
growth. In this, as we shall see, the Spanish differed from 
the English, who simply made in America new homes for 
Englishmen, where their old ideas and customs might de- 
velop freely — where, in fact, in many ways a new England 
might grow up. 

After the discovery of America by Columbus, the Pope, 
Alexander YI, issued two bulls, dividing the heathen lands 
Th b 11 f ^^ ^^^^ world between Portugal and Spain, 
demarcation, These gave to Spain all she might discover 
1403. ^gg^ Qf ^ ijj^Q drawn one hundred leagues 

west of the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands. The next 
year the two powers entered into an agreement, in accord- 

* The Spaniards were moved by three great purposes : the gathering 
of gold and jewels, the establishment of dominion, and the winning 
of souls to the Church. The first two of these objects were accom- 
plished, but the Spanish soldiers, in their greed for gold, seemed to 
forget the mission of the cross. See Winsor, Narrative and Critical His- 
tory of America, vol. ii, chap, v ; Fiske, The Discovery of America, vol. 
ii, pp. 444-481. 

The Mercator Map of ISJ^l. 
This map shows the word America applied to both the northern 
and southern continents. It was long supposed to be the very first, but 
quite recently another map (also by Mercator) has been discovered that 
was made three years earlier. Mercator was the wisest geographer of 
the time, and showed a truly wonderful power of interpreting the re- 
ports of travelers and explorers and of divining the truth. The map 
as here given follows a sketch made by Mr. Winsor himself, and repro- 
duced in his Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. ii, p. 177 
(by permission of the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.). The original 
map is on gores. For an example of this method of making maps, see 
Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. ii, p. 120. 




The Mercator Map of 1541. 



26 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



ance with which the dividing line should be three hundred 
and seventy leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Upon 



elmiinDO^cbaDcfaibicrto afta^gcna: 6i30laU 




ago que t>i3ieron los mbolicoB ifcye&xxefpmm^ 



The Western Half of the Eibeko Map, 1529, showing the Eoutes 
OF Columbus and the Line of Demakcation. 



this agreement, duly ratified by the Pope, Spain based her 
claim to the New World. 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 



27 



References. 

Thwaites, The Colonies, Chapters I and II; Fisher, The Colonial 
Era, pp. 1-20; Fiske, The Discovery of America, Volume I, espe- 
cially Chapters I, II, III, V, VIII, IX, and X; Higginson, The Larger 
History of the United States," Volume I, Chapters I, II, and III. 
Longer accounts : Markham, Christopher Columbus ; Adams, Chris- 
topher Columbus. See also Farrand, Basis of American History, pp. 
3-88 ; Cheyney, European Background of American History, pp. 3-41 ; 
Bourne, Spain in America. 




!'„>'. ..',^' if|: i 1 ■'■•;/ '■ IS' . ^ • -t-'-' 'II; ". 






;i ■!. 



,' i.,;jiiif.. 



''''■'''''ilMi *\. 

lIlHli 



J 



The House at Valladolid wheee Columbus died. 



CHAPTER IL 
The Southern Colonies— 1607-1700. 

VIRGINIA. 

EiTGLAN'D was not ready in the first half of the sixteenth 
century to enter into competition for the New World ; she 
, . , was not ready for that outburst of energy which 
sixteenth made her the successful rival of France and 

century. Spain and the greatest colonizing nation of the 

world. The Tudors, then on the throne, governed England 
sternly but well ; order was brought out of the confusion 
that came as the old feudal system disappeared ; the mid- 
dle classes of society were given opportunity for growth and 
betterment ; and the foundations were laid for the trade and 
commerce of the years to come. But not until toward the 
end of the century did the English people take part in the 
contest for empire in America. They were not yet, in the 
days of Henry VIII, prepared to reach out for new do- 
minions. 

The French accomplished little or nothing in the way of 
colonization in the sixteenth century. Until the accession 
France in the ^^ Henry IV (1589) the country was not in good 
sixteenth Condition for colonial enterprise. The vitality 

centnry. ^f ^j^^ nation was weakened either by foreign 

wars or by internal strife. The fierce contests between 
Huguenots and Catholics did much to exhaust its energy. 
Nevertheless French seamen did something in discovery, 
and a few unsuccessful efforts were made to found settle- 
ments in America. Hardly was the New World known to 
the Old when the hardy fishermen of Brittany began to visit 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 29 

the fisheries of Newfoundland. Verrazano,* in 1524, sailed 
along the N^orth American coast from North Carolina to 
Maine. Ten years later Jacques Cartier, a jovial and roist- 
ering fellow, explored the lower part of the St. Lawrence, 
and the next year visited the present site of Montreal. A 
few years after this (1542-'43) an attempt was made to 
plant a colony in the new-found region, but without success. 
The Huguenots sought to settle in Brazil, but the effort 
ended in miserable failure. A colony formed in Florida 
was destroyed by the Spaniards, and its people were mur- 
dered in the cold-blooded fashion of which the Spanish 
soldier of the day was master.f 

Thus Spain, unsuccessful herself in obtaining a hold on 
the Atlantic coast north of the Gulf of Mexico, save in the 
Effect of Frencli ^^^^ outpost at St. Augustine, which hardly de- 
and Spanisli Served the name of colony, did succeed in pre- 
nvalry. venting the French from settling in the south, 

while the cold winters of the north brought disaster to 
French colonists on the St. Lawrence. As a consequence, 
the middle Atlantic coast remained to the end of the cen- 
tury free from settlements, and England was given the 
chance to occupy it with her colonies. 

Not till the beginning of the next century, when France 
was inwardly at peace under the sagacious rule of Henry IV, 
Permanent ^^^ ^^® French succccd in making a permanent 
French Settlement in America. In 1605 Port Eoyal, 

colonies. j^^ Acadia, was founded, and three years later 

Champlain founded Quebec. How the French power devel- 
oped in Canada, and hoW the French endeavored to extend 

* Verrazano, like Columbus, Cabot, Vespucius, was an Italian by 
birth. 

f Graphic accounts of these early French enterprises will be found 
'n Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World, pp. 9-183. Shorter 
accounts will be found in Doyle, The English in America, vol. i (The 
Southern Colonies) ; Fiske, The Discovery of America, vol. ii, pp. 513- 
523 ; Thwaites, France in America. 
4 



30 HISTOHY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

their sway over the whole interior of the continent, will be 
told in a later chapter. It is sufficient to say here that Eng- 
land and France came to vie with each other for dominion 
in North America ; and while in the course of a hundred 
and fifty years the English colonies along the middle At- 
lantic coast were growing strong and vigorous, the French, 
as an ever-watchful, zealous enemy, sought to check the 
progress of their rivals. 

It is highly important that the main features of the geo- 
graphical situation should be kept in mind. The Spanish 
were at the south ; the French, after 1605, were 
nations ^for the established at the north; the middle portion, 
possession of from Maine to Florida, was unsettled at the be- 
Amenoa. ginning of the seventeenth century. Into this 

middle portion came the people of England, and the Dutch 
and Swedes also. In the course of a few years it fell into 
the hands of the English, Holland and Sweden being too 
weak to retain their hold upon it. Then began a contest 
between France and England, a contest for wider dominion, 
and in this contest England was successful. Thus by the 
end of what we call the colonial period the whole of Xorth 
America* was possessed by two nations, England and 
Spain. 

England advanced very rapidly in wealth and prosper- 
ity under the strong, kind hand of Elizabeth, and became a 
commercial nation of no mean power. During 
sThT''^''''^ this time English hostility to Spain was con- 
stantly growing more keen ; for England was 
now firmly Protestant in belief, and the people detested 
Philip II, who stood forth as the champion of Roman Ca- 
tholicism. They looked upon Spain as the natural enemy 
of their country, and the brave English mariners considered 
all Spanish commerce fair spoil. These bold sea dogs, scorn- 

* Possibly an exception should be made. Russia had already done 
something to establish a claim to Alaska. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 31 

ing the threats of Philip against any Protestant who should 
visit the seas of the West Indies, lay in wait for galleons 
freighted with the treasures of Mexico and Peru and robbed 
them ruthlessly. The very names of these daring and in- 
comparable seamen were dreaded in the settlements of the 
New World.* 

Chief among these seamen was Francis Drake. He first 
carried the English flag into the Pacific. Sailing through 
the Straits of Magellan, he loaded his bark with 
Sir Francis ^qI^ ^^^^ silver and precious jewels from Span- 
ish ships, taking from one alone the sum of 
three million dollars, f Passing to the north, he reached 
the coast of California or southern Oregon and took formal 
possession of the region, naming it New Albion. He then 
crossed the Pacific and completed the second navigation of 
the globe (1577-'80). Frobisher and Davis made voyages 
into the northwestern Atlantic, and other brave mariners I 
in various expeditions gave evidence of the new-found ener- 
gy and enterprise of England. The expeditions of men like 
Drake were at least half piratical, but they were perhaps the 
necessary forerunners of English colonization, for they gave 
courage to English seamen and helped to break down all 
fear of the power of Spain. 

* An interesting account is to be found in Green, History of the 
English People, chap. vii. 

f Fletcher, Drake's chaplain, who wrote an account of the voyage, 
speaks of taking thirteen chests of silver reals, eighty pounds weight of 
gold, twenty-six tons of uncoined silver, two very fair gilt silver drink- 
ing bowls, " and the like trifles." 

X Famous among these men was John Hawkins, a valiant seaman, 
knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his success in the slave trade. He who 
made himself famous in this horrible traffic seems not to have realized 
its horror or its wickedness. For he was a pious, religious spirit, and 
carried slaves or fought the Spanish with as clear a conscience as if en- 
gaged in holy errand. His sailing orders to his ships close with the 
words : " Serve God daily ; love one another ; preserve your victuals ; 
beware of fire ; and keep good company I " 



32 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

The first English settlements in America were not made 
under the guidance and direction of the monarch, nor to 
carry out any policy of state ; they were the re- 
st motives, g^-^^ ^^ private enterprise. And yet those who 
were chiefly interested in colonization were influenced by 
other motives than the mere hope of personal gain ; they de- 
sired the extension of English power, and they longed in 
some measure to check the might of Spain. They hoped to 
get a share of the gold and silver with which the New World 
was supposed to abound, and which was thought to be the 
source of Spanish strength. Mere hatred of the Spaniard 
and religious rivalry seem to have had no small share in the 
real motives for colonizing effort.* 

The man who first seriously entertained plans for settle- 
ment in North America and had the zeal and courage to 
make decided effort was Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a gentle and 
noble character, one of those persons whose life and conduct 
serve to brighten the page of history. In 1579, assisted by 
his half-brother, Walter Ealeigh, he endeavored 
Gilbert and ^q make a settlement in Newfoundland. This 
effort, as well as one a few years later (1583), 
was unsuccessful. Ealeigh now took up the plan, and for 
years persisted in trying to establish a permanent English 
colony. He more wisely chose a location farther to the 
south. In 1584 he sent out two vessels on a voyage of ex- 
ploration. Their commanders f sailed along the coast south 
of Chesapeake Bay. The name Virginia was given to the 
whole country in honor of the maiden queen, Elizabeth. 
The next year Raleigh sent out a company who settled on Ro- 
anoke Island. This colony was a failure, and another effort 



* Hakluyt's famous Westerne Planting contains these words among 
others : " That this voyage will be a great bridle to the Indies of the 
King of Spain." 

f Amadas and Barlowe. Raleigh was knighted as a reward for these 
voyages. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 33 

met with like result.* Although Ealeigh was not entirely 
discouraged, no other serious steps were taken until the he- 
ginning of the next century. 

These efforts were a preparation in more ways than one 
for successful colonization in America. They pointed to 
the difficulties and did something toward marking out the 
way of success, f Moreover, a number of the men who were 
actively interested with Ealeigh were subscribers to the com- 
pany which made a permanent settlement at Jamestown, the 
planting of which is soon to be told. And yet there is a 
marked difference between the efforts of the sixteenth and 
those of the seventeenth century. With the age of Eliza- 
c 1 ' ' f l ^^^^^ there seemed to pass away the flavor of 
the middle romance and adventure ; the settlements under 

^^^^^' prosaic James I were the offspring of the eco- 

nomic needs of England. " We pass . . . into the sober at- 
mosphere of commercial and political records, amid which 
we faintly spell out the first germs of the constitutional life 
of British America." The Englishman who succeeded in 
colonizing America was not the gay courtier or the daring 
buccaneer or the bold freebooter or the gallant soldier of the 
reign of Elizabeth, but the steady representative of the in- 
dustrious, plodding men of the middle classes, whose wants 
and thoughts henceforth were the directive forces of Eng- 
lish history. J The first settlements of the seventeenth cen- 

* In 1587 over a hundred men, women, and children were left on the 
coast of North Carolina, and when some three years later assistance was 
sent to them, they were not to be found. This was Raleigh's "lost 
colony." 

f Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. iii, has an 
interesting chapter on Hawkins and Drake, also one on Sir Walter 
Raleigh. For further facts, see Fisher, The Colonial Era, pp. 23 fol. ; 
Thwaites, The Colonies, p. 38 fol. ; Bancroft, History, vol. i, chap, v, 
p. 60; Doyle, The English in America (The Southern Colonies), p. 57 fol. 

X For a picture of the England of Drake and Raleigh, of Gilbert and 
Sir Philip Sydney, read Charles Kingsley's Westward Ho 1 or Scott's 
Kenil worth. v * / - 



34 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

tury contained some of the elements of romantic England ; 
but only when these were cast aside did the colonies 
prosper.* 

Other motives than a desire for wealth or a longing to 
curb the power of Spain seem to have had their influence 

with those who undertook at the beginning of 
Motives for ^}^q seventeenth century to found a permanent 

settlement in America. The industrial condition 
of England naturally turned men's thoughts to plans of col- 
onization. The people were restless and uneasy ; soldiers 
that had fought for Elizabeth found their occupation gone 
and wished for further excitement ; many men were out of 
work, for the conversion of plow land into sheep farms de- 
prived laborers of employment. There was a complaint that 
England was overcrowded — a strange complaint, one might 
think, inasmuch as the population of Great Britain has in- 
creased tenfold since that day. But in those days, before 
the invention of modern machinery, men could not easily 
find employment save as tillers of the soil. The country 
therefore was overcrowded with those who had no work ; 
lawlessness prevailed and crimes were frequent, f Under 
these circumstances men turned their thoughts to America 
as a fit place to which to move the unemployed. Partly, 
then, as a business enterprise, partly in consideration of 
England's industrial condition, partly from motives of pa- 
triotism in order that England, as well as her hated rival, 



* John Smith was, as we shall see, the exception which proved the 
rule. He was a rollicking soldier of fortune, but he was more. When 
he declared that " he who will not work shall not eat," he announced 
the gospel of a new dispensation — the principle of a coming de- 
mocracy. 

f The Spanish minister in London wrote to his king that the chief 
reason for the English effort to colonize Virginia was that a colony 
** would give an outlet to so many idle and wretched people as they 
have in England." See Hart, American History told by Contempo- 
raries, vol. i, pp. 154, 155. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 



35 




TERRITORY 

Granted by the Charter of 

1606 

GRANT EXTENDED 100 MILES INLAND 

AND INCLUDED ALSO ALL ISLANDS 

100 MILES FROM THE COAST. 



Spain, might have possessions across the sea, colonization 
was undertaken. 

The experience of Ealeigh seemed to prove that no 
single person could successfully establish a settlement in 
America. The task required greater wealth and greater in- 
fluence than one man could possess. For the prosecution 
of the enterprise, therefore, a number of men sought and re- 



36 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

ceived a charter from King James. The charter was complex 
and intricate, providing for two companies of like character. 
, One was composed of London merchants, and 
Plymouth had authority to establish a settlement he- 

Companies, tween the thirty-fourth and forty-first degrees 
of latitude ; in other words, somewhere between Cape Fear 
and the mouth of the Hudson. The other, the Plymouth 
Company, was made up of "sundry knights, gentlemen, 
merchants, and other adventurers of Bristol and Exeter, 
and of our town of Plimouth," and it could found a colony 
between the thirty-eighth and the forty-fifth degrees, or 
between the southern point of Maryland and the Bay of 
Fundy. Thus it will be seen that the grant to one of the 
companies overlapped the other by three degrees, but it was 
provided that one was not to make a settlement within a 
hundred miles of the other. The strip of three degrees was 
to belong to the company first colonizing it. 

It was also provided by the charter that each of these 
companies should have a council of thirteen, resident in 

America ; and there was to be one general su- 
How they were perior council in England. The affairs of the 

company were in the hands of the council, but 
it must govern " according to such laws, ordinances, and in- 
structions as shall be in that behalf given and signed with 
our hand or sign manual " — that is to say, according to the 
orders of the king. The colonists and their children were 
to have " all liberties, franchises, and immunities " of native- 
born subjects of the king. 

A paper of instructions was issued by the king, and this 
contained certain directions to the company or limitation 

upon its power. Trial by jury was provided for 
?^® . when a person in the colony was accused of a 

capital offense. The president and council in 
Virginia were empowered to make laws which would have 
force for the time being, but must be finally ratified in 
England. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 37 

There were some liberal provisions m the charter and 

instructions, but the king in reality retained almost com- 

, . plete power in his hands. He could manage 

The colonists f^ ^ ^ - - -n mi, i • ^ 

without self- the company almost at will, i he colonists, on 

government. j^]^q other hand, were in the power of a com- 
mercial company, made up of men who desired indeed to 
found a colony, but wished also to reap their reward in 
wealth. The settlers had no share in the government ; all 
local authority was placed in the resident council. 

A company of colonists sailed for America in December, 
1606.* Among them were all sorts and conditions of men — 
white-handed gentlemen, hoping to find imme- 
The settlers. ^.^^^ riches ; broken gallants and ruined trades- 
men ; and a few " carpenters " and " laborers." The gentle- 
men made up more than half the company. A gentleman, 
we must remember, was a man who knew not work. There 
were also on board a tailor, a barber, and a drummer, f 
These men expected to gather with ease the precious stones 
and gold and silver with which the country was supposed 
to abound. J Thus it is plain that the company was strik- 
ingly ill fitted to build homes in a wilderness, to fell the 
forest, to plant corn, to toil and struggle in patience — " more 
fit to spoil a commonwealth than either begin one or but 
help to maintain one." * 

Early in the spring of 1607 the expedition entered 
Chesapeake Bay, and in May decided to build a town on a 



* The whole story of the settlement is vividly told in Cooke's Vir- 
ginia, Part I, and in Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation, pp. 1-72. 

f " They were going to a wilderness in which, as yet, not a house 
was standing, and there were forty-eight gentlemen to four carpenters." 
Bancroft, History, vol. i, p. 88. 

;j; " For rubies and diamonds, they go forth^n Holydays and gather 
them by the seashore, to hang on their children's coats and stick in 
their caps." These words are from Eastward Ho ! a popular play in 
England at this time. 

* Captain John Smith's The Generall Historie of Virginia. 



38 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

low peninsula jutting out into one of the rivers that flows 
through the fertile and attractive country south of the 
great bay. In honor of their monarch they 
ames own. named the river the James, and their town 
Jamestown. Dissensions and quarrels threatened at the 
very outset to bring failure to the colony. Even while on 
the voyage the leaders had fallen into dispute ; and when 
they landed, Captain John Smith, who had been named as 
one of the council, was for a time prevented from taking 
the office, because he had been " suspected of a supposed 
mutiny." Wingfield was chosen president, but was grossly 
unfit for the task of governing this band of eager gold 
hunters and adventurers. He was finally deposed, but his 
successor was alike incompetent. 

The first dismal summer was full of dread and trouble. 
The Indians made an attack, but were beaten off. The 
food was scanty and the water bad ; the rank 
^ enng. jnarshes exhaled malaria. Disease broke out, 

and nearly the whole colony was prostrated with fever. 
"Burning fevers destroyed them," says Percy, one of the 
company ; " some departed suddenly, but for the most part 
they died of mere famine." Before autumn came, fifty were 
dead, and the living were in a pitiable plight. 

The one man fit to rule was John Smith. He had al- 
ready had a remarkable career of war and adventure. He 
was a sort of soldier of fortune, brave, self- 
reliant, capable — one of those enterprising men 
left over from the sixteenth century, when adventurous 
knight errantry was in season.* He worked without ceas- 

* " He was perhaps the last professional knight errant that the world 
saw — a free lance who could not hear of a fight going on anywhere in 
the world without hastening to take a hand in it." See Tyler, History 
of American Literature, vol. i, p. 18. Tyler's description of Smith and 
his writings is full of charm and interest. The portrait on the opposite 
page is from Smith's The Gencrall Historic of Virginia, and is a part 
of the map of New England. For a part of this map, see the chapter 
on New England. 




C^hefe are theZitteS ihatjhew ifyT'acc;hut thofc 

rChat/hew thy GtoCC and ^lovy, brighter bee : 

^ZtHty T'cLtVC-Dilcouertes and. ^owtc Overtnrowes 

Of Scdva^CS^much CiviUizd fy the^LJ<^ 

"Befijluw -thy S£irii;;and io it Glory (Wyt 

So^tkou artBra(?c wiihoutylut Q^olac~Wi^in. , 



40 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



ing to save the colony, and to him its final success was due. 
Help came from England, and new settlers were brought 
over. Smith now became president of the council, and he 
wielded his power with vigor. " You must obey this now 
for a law," he declared, " that he who will not work shall 







From Captain John Smith's Generall IIistorie. 



not eat." No more wholesome statute for a new settlement 
and a new world could be devised than this, and as long as 
the murmuring people obeyed there was hope of plenty. 
Again settlers came, and, though Smith bitterly complained 
that "there was iiovv no thought, no discourse, no hope, 
and no work, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load 
gold," when he left, in 1609, there was a good chance of 
success if his fundamental ordinances were obeyed. 

In this year (1609) the company received a new char- 
ter. To the council in Virginia was added a governor, 

to whom the colonists were " forthwith to be 
1609."'^ obedient." The limits of the territory of the 

company were altered, and in later years the 
terms of this charter were held by the State of Virginia 
to give her dominion in territory northwest of the Ohio. 
The line was to run along the coast for two hundred miles 
on either side, north and south, of Point Comfort, and was 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 



41 




to include " all that Space and Circuit of Land lying from 
the Sea-Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up into the Land, 
throughout from Sea to Sea, West and N^orth-west." * 

When Smith left the colony he might well have hoped 
that a permanent English colony was established in Amer- 
Jamestown was then a struggling little village of fifty 



ica. 



or sixty houses ; but the people were not in want. Hardly 



* By this charter the London Company was made a separate com- 
pany, distinct from the Plymouth Company. 



42 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

was the stout-hearted soldier gone, however, when the old 
troubles broke out afresh. The autumn and winter were, 
as a consequence, full of bickerings and dis- 
putes. Men quarreled when they should have 
worked. Misery and want followed close upon the heels 
of strife. "AYithin six months after Captain Smith's 
departure there remained not past sixty men, 
an su ermg. -^omen, and children, most miserable and 
poore creatures ; and those were preserved for the most 
part by roots, herbes, acorns, walnuts, berries, now and 
then a little fish ; . . . yea, even the very skins of their 
horses." * 

In 1610 the colonists, obtaining temporary relief, were 
on the point of abandoning the settlement when Lord 
Delaware arrived with new supplies. And so 
Dale, 1610 to the colony struggled on in a miserable plight. 
1616' Delaware was succeeded by Dale, a rough, 

domineering soldier, who ruled with a rod of iron. The 
people suffered untold miseries during the years of his ad- 
ministration, which was long remembered as the " five 
years of slavery." f Yet perhaps this period of stern dis- 
cipline was needed for the preservation of the colony. 

We need not recount the details of Dale's administra- 
tion or the work of the governors that came after him. J 
It is sufficient to know that the colony struggled on, and 

* John Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia. 

f Read especially Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation, pp. 45-48. 
Delaware, who lived in England, was the nominal governor, but the 
colony was in Dale's hands. At this time the practice of bringing all 
products to a " common store " was abandoned in part ; the old planters 
were given garden patches. The communal system had tempted men 
to be lazy, in hope of eating the bread that other men had earned. 
Men now worked in the prospect of enjoying the fruit of their toil. 

X George Yeardley, a " mild and temperate " man, ruled for a time. 
He was followed by Argall, whom Cooke calls a " human hawk, peering 
about in search of some prey to pounce on." In 1619 Yeardley re- 
turned. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1G07-1700. 



43 



that before Dale returned to England the people had 
found in the cultivation of tobacco a profitable industry, 
to which they turned their attention, filling 
" the market place, street, and other spare 
places " with the growing crops. There was a ready sale 
for this commodity in England, for the people were fond 



Tobacco. 



r^y^--^J$rP.::-y^4 




C: Smith fa^s thei^n^ of 'P^i^nhc^ prisoner A.*? lOop 



Feom Captain John Smith's Generall Historie. 

of smoking, and continued the practice, spite of the outcry 
of worthy King James, who published a Counterblast to 
Tobacco, and declared that it was the " greatest sin " that 
a man could not " walk the journey of a Jew's Sabbath " 
without having a coal brought to him " from the nearest 
pothouse to kindle " his tobacco with. As early as 1619 Vir- 
ginia shipped twenty thousand pounds of this weed. The 
colony had thus found a business basis,* and as the years 



* It thus justified its existence, and made its success certain. 



44: HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

went by tobacco became almost the sole export. It is not 
too much to say that on this one crop the colony grew and 
prospered, and that the social, industrial, and even the 
political life of Virginia was built upon it. 

Shortly after the beginning of tobacco culture, negro 
slavery was introduced into the colony. In 1619 there 

came into the harbor, says John Rolfe, " a 
egrosavery. j)^^^|^ manne-of-war, that sold us twenty ne- 
gars." The raising of tobacco was well suited to slave 
labor, for the negro was easily taught to do simple field 
work, and could learn to cultivate the single crop to which 
Virginia soon gave itself up. So tobacco and slavery grew 
and prospered together. It was long, however, before the 
number of blacks was very large, or materially affected the 
real life and character of the colony. As a matter of fact, 
for some years there were more white than black servants. 
Persons who desired to move to America agreed to work for 

a term of years in order to pay the expenses of 
mite servi- -j-j-^g voyage. These were called " redemption- 

ers," * and came in large numbers not only to 
Virginia, but in later years to the other English colonies as 
well. In addition, there were other white laborers, not so 
desirable an elem.ent, drawn from the idle or vicious classes 
of England. These " indented servants " were often po- 
litical criminals, persons who had been engaged in some 
uprising against the Government, and of these in the days 
to come many were shipped to America to serve for a pe- 
riod of years. Sometimes they were common rascals, who 

* For the redemptioner at a later time, see McMaster, History of 
the People of the United States, vol. ii, p. 558. The words " indented 
servants " are often used to include the redemptioners. " Some- 
times," says Jefferson, " they [the indented servants] were called re- 
demptioners, because, by their agreement with the master of the vessel, 
they could redeem themselves from his power by paying their pas- 
sage." For the origin of the word "indented," see the dictionary, 
under " indenture." 



■xaE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 45 

were transported to the colonies instead of being hanged at 
home.* 

While the colony was growing in strength and finding a 
sound basis in industry, an alteration in its form of govern- 
ment changed it from a mercantile venture 
The general ^j^^^ g^ political colonv. This great chansre — 
courts" of the ...• • • -,, i ^ . , a 

London Com- the beginning, one might almost say, 01 the po- 

P^^J^^^^S- litical and constitutional history of the United 
States — was the result rather of conditions in 
England than of any great demand on the part of the set- 
tlers for new institutions. In 1612 a new charter had been 
granted by the king, according to which the control of the 
London Company's affairs, which had at first been in the 
hands of a small council, was given to the body of stock- 
holders, who were authorized to hold four " general courts " 
a year, and to come together at other times. These meet- 
ings became important gatherings, in which was a great 
deal of interest and much bold discussion. These assem- 
blies gave themselves up to debate, and the questions under 
discussion were not always confined to the mere temporary 
interests of the company. There were factions among 
its members. The leaders of one element were Sir Edwin 
Sandys, a man of rare ability and of noble character, 
and the Earl of Southampton, the friend of Shakespeare. 
These men were foes of arbitrary rule in England ; they 
hated the sly kingcraft of James ; they belonged to that 
class of liberal-minded men who were growing restless 
under the high-handed rule of an unpopular monarch. 
They were anxious to rear in America a strong colony on 

* " In 1625 there were about four hundred and sixty-four white serv- 
ants in Virginia, but only twenty-two negroes. In 1671 there were 
six thousand servants and two thousand slaves " (Bruce, Economic 
History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, vol. i, p. 572). Prom 
about 1680 the slave population rapidly increased. These white servants 
were in the seventeenth century "the main pillar of the industrial 
fabric." 

5 



46 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATIO:.. 

a broad and liberal basis, and they seem to have resented 
the interference of the king in the affairs of Virginia. 
Largely through the influence of these patriotic men a 

great charter was granted by the company to 
Salter ^o-^* ^^^ people of Virginia. This memorable docu- 
vember 13, ment has been lost, but its contents are in part 
^^^^' known to us. It provided for the summoning 

of a popular assembly ; it laid the foundation for a consti- 
tutional government in the New World.* Sandys and 
Southampton, who were chiefly influential in bringing 
about this great change, should be honored among the 
fathers of American liberty. 

In 1619 Governor Yeardley appeared in Virginia with 
" instructions from the Company for the better establish- 
inge of a commonwealth." f He proclaimed that " the 

cruell lawes, by which the ancient planters have 
Ass^embly in ^^® longe been governed," were now abrogated, 
America, July, and that they were to be governed " by those 

free lawes which his majesties subjectes lived 
under in Englande. . . . That the planters might have a 
hande in the governing of themselves, yt was granted that 
a generall assemblie shoulde be held yearly once, whereat 
were to be present the governor and counsell with two 
Burgesses from each plantation freely to be elected by the 
inhabitantes thereof, this Assemblie to have power to make 
and ordaine whatsoever lawes and orders should by them be 
thought good and profitable for our subsistence." J In con- 
formity with this notice, an assembly was held in the little 
church at Jamestown in this same year. With the won- 
derful English instinct for government and organization, 

* " It contained in embryo the American system of an executive 
power lodged mainly in one person, and a Legislature of two houses." 
(Eggleston, The Beginners of a Nation, p. 55.) 

f In other words, Yeardley came over to put the principles of the 
new charter into operation. 

X These words are from the " brief e declaration" written somewhat 
later. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 47 

the representatives of this little community in the wilder- 
ness of Virginia entered upon the duties and privileges of 
their office with a zest and an aptitude that augured ill for 
tyrannical rule and pointed to the development of a self- 
ruling democracy in the JN^ew World.* 

The privileges granted by the company in 1619 were 
further confirmed in an instrument brought to Virginia 

two years later by Sir Francis Wyat. It pro- 
Virgima's vided among other things that no law should 

be valid without the consent of the company ; 
but, on the other hand, that no orders from London should 
be binding on the colony unless ratified by the Assembly. 
The courts were to use the laws and forms of trial used in 
England. " The system of representative government and 
trial by jury thus became in the new hemisphere an ac- 
knowledged right. On this ordinance Virginia erected the 
superstructure of her liberties." f It furnished, too, a model 
for later government throughout the colonies. This trans- 

* Interesting accounts of this first Assembly will be found in Ban- 
croft's History of the United States, vol. i, p. 111-119 ; Cooke's Virginia, 
chap. xix. Bancroft says : " From the moment of Yeardley's arrival 
dates the real life of Virginia." We owe this establishment of free 
institutions to Sir Edwin Sandys and the Earl of Southampton. The 
Earl of Southampton was a conspicuous man in the reign of James. 
He was interested in colonization, and was one of the members of the 
Virginia Company of London. He belonged to the liberal faction of 
the company, and was one of the foremost in insisting upon the rights 
of the company in opposition to James. He may therefore be con- 
sidered one of the fathers of American constitutionalism. He was a 
friend and patron of Shakespeare, and is thought by some critics to be 
the " W H." whom the poet addresses in his idolizing sonnets. To 
him some of Shakespeare's poems are dedicated. " Should the plan- 
tation go on increasing as under the government of that popular Lord 
Southampton," said the Spanish ambassador, " my master's West In- 
dies and his Mexico will shortly be visited, by sea and land, from those 
planters in Virginia." 

f Bancroft, History, vol. i, p. 118. When at a later day the colo- 
nists feared that they would lose their new-found rights, the Virginia 



48 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

planting of the free institutions of England to the New 
World, to flourish and expand there, is one of the note- 
worthy facts of all history. 

Virginia in these years was prosperous, and was now 
far past the experimental stage. There were several thou- 
sand people scattered about in the little settle- 
rosperity. ments. Tobacco-raising was proving a profit- 
able business, and new farms and plantations sprang up 
along the river banks. The strength of the colony was 
shown by the fact that, although the settlements were 
fiercely attacked by the Indians (1622) and over three 
hundred persons were killed, the "great massacre," as it 
was called, served as little more than a temporary check 
upon progress. 

But meanwhile King James was losing patience with 
the London Company and its turbulent general courts, in 
^ which men spoke so freely and fearlessly. 

The company i. j j 

loses its char- These meetings were thronged, and the whole 
ter, 1624. ^f London seems to have been stirred and ex- 

cited by their discussions. The Virginia courts, whispered 
the Spanish minister to James, " are but a seminary to a 
seditious parliament." And such, in fact, they were. The 
king resolved to be rid of this seminary of sedition. An 
excuse was readily found, and the necessary legal steps were 
taken to revoke the charter. Virginia then became a royal 
colony (1624). A governor with wide powers was directly 
appointed by the king. Kepresentative government, how- 
ever, did not die out, for the Assembly continued to exist, 
although there is no record of its meeting for a time after 
the annulment of the charter. The attack of James upon 
the company was an act of petty tyranny, but in the long 
run it was better that the colony should be under the king 
than subject to the whim of a commercial company. 

Assembly petitioned the king to send over commissioners to hang them 
rather than establish the old tyranny. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 49 

Charles I, who now came to the throne, had enough to 
do at home seeking to rule according to his own sweet will, 
and soon had more than he could do in trying 
to save his throne and his head. The people 
in America were therefore allowed, without much interfer- 
ence, to develop their own institutions and to become prac- 
ticed in the management of their own interests. In later 
years royal governors were at times cruel and domineering, 
but on the whole Virginia developed naturally and freely. 

We can only hurriedly glance at the succession of events 
which mark the growing political character of the Virgin- 
ians. In 1635 the people, displeased with the 

Harvey thrust conduct of their governor, deposed him, and 
ont, 1635. T . n , ?, 1 -, • 

sent him home to I^ngland to give an account 

of himself. This " thrusting out of Sir John Harvey " was 
not a riotous affair.* It was what one may call an orderly 
rebellion. It points to two facts : first, a spirit of inde- 
pendence and self-respect in the young community ; and, 
second, a faculty of self-control which prevented what was 
legally a rebellion from degenerating into tumult and 
anarchy. 

When the civil war broke out in England (1642) the peo- 
ple of Virginia sympathized on the whole with Charles, and 
upon his death the Assembly went so far as to 
Virginia a pg^gg resolutions speaking of the " most excel- 
lent and now undoubtedly sainted king." But 
the authority of the victorious Parliament was established 
over the colony without much trouble, and it became subject 
for a time to the power of the Commonwealth. This sym- 
pathy with the defeated party in England had, however, a 
material effect upon the growth and character of Virginia. 
It became an asylum for " distressed cavaliers." f Many 

* The brief record of the council is amusing in its brevity : " On the 
28th of April, 1635, Sr. John Harvey thrust out of his government, and 
Capt. John West acts as Governor till the King's pleasure known." 

f " For, if our spirits were somewhat depressed in contemplation of 



50 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

stiff-necked royalists, and those wlio were not at ease after 
the downfall of the monarchy, made their way to Virginia. 
It is a noteworthy fact that, whereas the immigration to 
New England, of which we shall presently speak, ceased 
when the war between Parliament and king broke out, there 
flowed into Virginia a steady stream of population, espe- 
cially, it seems, through the period of the Commonwealth. 
In 1640 there were not over eight thousand people in the 
colony, and in 1670 there were about forty thou- 
sand. It is too much to believe that the in- 
crease was all due to the influx of distressed cavaliers, but 
beyond question there were many such, and their coming 
did a good deal to shape colonial life and manners. They 
seem to have raised the tone and character of Virginia life. 
Many of them must have been men of some social standing 
in England, men of culture, if not wealth ; they were well 
born and well bred, fitted for politics and self-government. 
They were loyal in their sympathies and devoted to the 
memory of their lost king, but in the free air of the New 
World they were to develop into uncompromising democrats 
and the fiercest defenders of their own privileges. When 
one considers the number of statesmen and soldiers that 
Virginia has furnished America, and the great part she has 
played in politics and in building up the nation, he may well 
consider this immigration, next to the great inroad of the 
Puritans at the North, the most important one in our 
history.* 

a barbarous restraint upon the person of our king in the Isle of Wight ; 
to what horrors and despair must our minds be reduc'd at the bloody 
and bitter stroke of his assassination at his palace at Whitehall " (from 
A Voyage to Virginia (1649), published in Force's Historical Tracts, 
vol. iii, No. 10.) See also Stedman and Hutchinson, American Litera- 
ture, vol. i, p. 50. 

* When one notices the size of the land grants made in the days after 
the cavalier immigration, he sees that the influx of these men meant the 
establishment of the great estates of Virginia, which became the domi- 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 51 

Upon the restoration of Charles II (1660) Virginia passed 
under royal control once more. Although it had sympa- 
thized with the king in his exile and afflictions, 
Governor j^ ^g^g j^q^ singled out for special consideration. 

On the contrary, it was ruled with great harsh- 
ness. Sir William Berkeley, who had been deposed from his 
governorship in the time of the Commonwealth, was now re- 
instated in power, and he ruled with an iron hand. He was 
not by nature a small man or a cruel one, nor did he set delib- 
erately at work to despoil the people ; but he was a born aris- 
tocrat, completely devoted to the king and the Church, and 
he believed that the duty of the common people was to fol- 
low, not to lead. 

He was devoted to what seemed to him the interests of 
Yirginia, yet he was out of all patience with murmuring or 
discontent. But the people were growing rest- 
less. King Charles, utterly disregarding the 
rights of the settlers, gave to two of his court favorites at 
this time " all the dominion of land and water called Vir- 
ginia " for a term of thirty-one years. Moreover, since the 
influx of the cavalier element and the extension of the plan- 
tation system, the government had become more 
■^^/'°°'^ aristocratic, and the planters with the big plan- 

tations had acquired considerable political au- 
thority and influence, under which the poorer people fretted. 
Added to these troubles were the vexatious laws that were 
passed by England in restraint of colonial trade. But most 
grievous of all were the Indian attacks on the frontier, and 
the refusal of the haughty governor to do aught to prevent 
them or to sruard the western settlements in 

1 R7R 

any way. The result of these gathering discon- 
tents was a rebellion headed by a young man named JSTa- 
thaniel Bacon. At the head of a band of determined men 

nating fact of industrial life ; the increase of the negroes in number at 
the same time points to the extension of the plantation system. 



52 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAIN NATION. 

he defeated the Indians ; but in doing so he incurred the 
enmity of Berkeley, who had no patience with volunteer 
movements or popular uprisings even for the purpose of 
self-defense against savages. The troubles that followed 
are commonly known as Bacon's rebellion, and the episode 
is full of interest to the student of the political and indus- 
trial history of Virginia. We need not give the details of 
the rebellion ; it was a failure, and Berkeley wreaked a 
dreadful vengeance upon the rebels. Charles II, the king 
whom the haughty governor was ready to worship, is said to 
have exclaimed : " That old fool has hanged more men in 
that naked country than I did here for the murder of my 
father ! " 

It remains for us to consider the meaning and the re- 
sults of this rebellion. It was in part a protest against the 
arbitrary authority of the governor, in part a 
Its meaning manifestation of discontent with the naviga- 
tion laws and the existing industrial order, and 
in part a revolt against the power of the great planters, who 
by that time had absorbed authority in the management of 
local affairs, and many of whom were out of all sympathy 
with popular government. Bacon's followers were in large 
measure the poorer people, " Ye scum of the country," as 
they were called by the aristocrats. Although other less 
serious uprisings followed in the course of a few years, the 
failure of this rebellion marks, on the whole, the establish- 
ment of the aristocratic character of Virginia in its politi- 
cal, social, and industrial life. 

But this does not mean that in the years to come the 
powers of the crown and governor increased in Virginia, 
P liti 1 ^^^ ^^^^ there was no development of the 

character in principles and practices of self-government. 
after years. Rather, as we shall see, the small planters and 
great planters, as time went on, made common cause. Al- 
tnough the rich slave owners held the offices and dominated 
the social and industrial life of the colony, they constantly 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 53 

strove to wrest greater authority from the royal governor 
and the crown, and to make the colany self-governing. In 
the great revolution against Great Britain in the next cen- 
tury the rich and the poor of Virginia acted together ; the 
wealthy and prosperous did not support the Tory cause, as 
did so many of their class in other colonies ; but, with a 
masterly knowledge of the principles of political action, 
they opposed the king and his ministers, and furnished 
during the whole struggle great leaders in thought and 
action, men who appreciated at their full value the doc- 
trines of English liberty, which England herself seemed to 
be forgetting. 

Of the industrial and social condition of the time no 
better statement can be made than in a report made by 

Governor Berkeley, and we may well leave Vir- 
Berkeley's ginia at the end of the seventeenth century 

with some of his words in our mind : " Com- 
modities of the growth of our country, we never had any 
but tobacco, which in this yet is considerable that it yields 
his Majesty a great revenue. . . . Now, for shipping, we 
have admirable masts and very good oaks ; but for iron ore, 
I dare not say there is sufficient to keep one iron mill going 
for seven .years. . . . We suppose . . . that there is in Vir- 
ginia above forty thousand persons, men, women, and chil- 
dren, and of which there are two thousand UacJc slaves^ six 
thousand Christian servants, for a short time, the rest are 
born in the country or have come in to settle and seat, in 
bettering their condition in a growing country. . . . Eng- 
lish ships, near eighty come out of England and Ireland 
every year for tobacco ; few New England ketches ; but of 
our own we never yet had more than two at one time, and 
those not more than twenty tons burthen. . . . We have 
Iforty-eight parishes, and our ministers are well paid, and 
by my consent should be better if they ivould pray oftener 
and preach less. But of all other commodities, so of this, 
the worst are sent us. . . . But, I thank God, there are no 



54 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these 
hundred years." 

References. 

Short accounts : Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 36-44, 64-78 ; Fish- 
er, The Colonial Era, pp. 23-62 ; Lodge, Short History of the Eng- 
lish Colonies in America, pp. 1-25 ; Higginson, Larger History, pp. 
84-107. Longer accounts : Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Vol- 
ume I, pp. 224-308 ; Volume II, pp. 9-13 ; Bancroft, History, Vol- 
ume I, pp. 60-152, 442-474; Cooke, Virginia, pp. 1-331; Hildreth, 
History of the United States, Volume I, pp. 76-96, 99-135, 335-353, 
509-565 ; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, Volume HI, Chap- 
ters II, IV, V. For the beginnings of Virginia, read especially Eg- 
gleston. The Beginners of a Nation, pp. 1-98, a very charming and 
entertaining book ; Fiske, Old Virginia and her Neighbors, Volume 
I, especially Chapters II to IV ; Tyler, England in America. 



MARYLAND— 1632-1700. 

Among the most noticeable features of American life at 
the present day are the entire absence of connection between 

church and state and the complete toleration 
Religious tol- Qf ^H forms of religious belief. Our national 

Constitution provides that Congress "shall 
make no law respecting an establishment of religion or 
prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The State Consti- 
tutions contain similar provisions, and men now quite gen- 
erally assert that intolerance is foolish and wrong. But 
this broad and tolerant spirit has been of slow growth. In 
the seventeenth century, when America was settled, the 
great mass of men did not believe in toleration. Even in 
England, which was in some respects, perhaps, more ad- 
vanced in liberal thought than were most of the countries 
of Continental Europe, there were severe laws on the statute 
books providing for the punishment of those that did not 
accept the faith of the Established Church or did not con- 
form to the prescribed modes of worship. Many of the 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 55 

settlers in America were fugitives from the persecutions 
of the Old World ; and yet in many of the colonies, 
throughout the whole colonial period, a spirit of intolerance 
prevailed. Only slowly did men come to a full apprecia- 
tion of the wisdom of allowing all people to think as they 
chose in matters of religion. This continent received in 
its early days men of many and diverse faiths ; and in the 
free air of the New World, where free thinking and free 
acting were encouraged, people gradually came to respect 
their neighbor's sincere faith, even though it differed from 
their own. 

In the light of these facts, we are interested in the 
early history of Maryland, where for some years Protestants 
and Roman Catholics lived together in peace, 
and where the principles of tolerance were 
carried into practice. The founders of Maryland were 
George and Cecilius Calvert. The former, a man of con- 
siderable influence in England, was for a time secretary 
of state under James I. In 1625 he announced his conver- 
sion to Eoman Catholicism and resigned his position.* 
James made him a peer, with the title of Baron Baltimore 
of Baltimore. Even before his retirement from office he 
had entered upon plans for founding a colony in America, 
and he now made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a 
settlement in Newfoundland. Undaunted by this failure, 
he turned his attention to the south, and obtained from the 
king a grant of land on either side of Chesapeake Bay. Be- 
fore the charter was actually issued Baltimore died, leaving 
his plans for founding a principality in America to be car- 
ried out by his son Cecilius, who seems to have inherited 
his father's ambitions. 

In June, 1632, the charter was issued. " It contained 



* It was against the law for a Catholic to hold office. In James's 
reign, before 1618, twenty-four Catholics are said to have been pun- 
ished with death. 



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HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



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the most ample rights and privileges ever conferred by a 
sovereign of England." We have seen that the first suc- 
cessful settlements in Virginia were made un- 
der the auspices of a commercial corporation. 
This charter, on the other hand, bestowed on one man full 
title to a large territory,* and gave to him alone, with 
scarcely any restrictions, full powers to govern the people 
that settled there. The proprietor was the feudal lord of 
the province ; he owed allegiance to the King of England, 

* The colony was named Maryland at the request of the king, in 
honor of his wife, Henrietta Maria. The boundaries of the grant were 
more extensive than the present State of Maryland. The lines were as 
follows : On the north, the fortieth parallel ; on the west, a line running 
south from the parallel to the farthest source of the Potomac ; on the 
Bouth, the Potomac from this point, and then by a line running across 
the bays and peninsula to the Atlantic ; on the east, by the ocean and 
by Delaware Bay and river. A glance at the accompanying map will 
show the boundaries. The northern boundary of Maryland, long a 
subject of dispute, was finally surveyed in part by two men named 
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two English mathematicians. This 
was not till 1763-'67. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 57 

but he was the feudal overlord and superior of the people 
upon his domain. Baltimore, then, may be looked upon 
as practically King of Maryland ; the people that came to 
settle there were his subjects. 

The colony was a palatinate modeled after the palati- 
nate of Durham, in England. The head of such a domin- 
ion, within his palatinate, had, in fact, kingly rights " as 
fully as the king in his palace," subject, of course, as feudal 
vassal, to the king. 

While it is true that the proprietor lacked none of the 
essential rights of kingship within his province, the charter 

gave in a vague way certain rights to the 
^\^ni\f**^^ people. He was the lawmaking power; but 

the laws were to be made with the advice and 
consent of the freemen or their representatives. The set- 
tlers were to have the privileges of Englishmen ; but this 
could not have meant much in a patent granted by Charles 
Stuart. 

There is no evidence in the charter itself of an inten- 
tion to found a colony where all men should be allowed to 

worship God as they chose ; but it seems cer- 
Practical toler- ^^j^^ ^]-^^j^ Kinff Charles would never have 
ationi . ° 

granted the right to establish a colony solely 

for Catholics. He was too strongly Protestant for that. It 
must, then, have been understood that the adherents of 
both religions were to be welcome.* And as a matter of 
fact, the first two ships, the Ark and the Dove, that 
set sail for the new colony, had on board both Catholics and 

* Brown says of Cecilius : " There is no reason to suppose that he 
intended to found a Catholic colony like the nonconformist colonies to 
the north. Such a quixotic scheme would have been ruinous to his en- 
terprise and himself." " Both he and his father had planned to make 
Maryland a refuge for their persecuted fellow-believers, without mak- 
ing it a distinctively Catholic province, which, of course, would have 
resulted in its ruin." (George and Cecilius Calvert, Lords Baltimore, 
pp. 89-98.) 



58 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Protestants. The expedition was in the charge of Leonard 
Calvert, the brother of the proprietor. He was to be the 
first governor, and had received strict instructions from 
Lord Baltimore " to be very careful to preserve unity and 
peace, . . . and suffer no scandall nor offense to be given to 
any of the Protestants." This voyage of the Ark and 
the Dove seems a noteworthy voyage in history. For, 
though troublous times were to follow, it was prophetic 
of better days that men of these two religions could set 
sail together to build up a commonwealth in America. 

The vessels reached Virginia in February, 1634. A site 
was purchased from the Indians near the mouth of the Po- 
tomac. A permanent settlement was made 
Maryland ^^^^^ ^^^ named St. Mary's. With some of the 

loundea. "^ 

Virginians, and especially with one Claiborne, 
the settlers had considerable trouble. Claiborne claimed 
land within the limits of the Baltimore grant, and he con- 
tinued without ceasing to demand its possession and to op- 
pose in all possible ways the authority of the proprietor and 
the development of the colony. He has been well called 
" the evil genius " of Maryland. These trials and vexations, 
much as they disturbed the early history of Maryland, are 
of comparatively little importance in its history. We are 
more interested in the development of the political charac- 
ter of the colony and in the effort to establish religious 
toleration. 

At the head of the colony was the governor, appointed 
by the proprietor and representing him as the owner of the 

soil and lord of the people. Baltimore pro- 
•^^® , vided for a council the duties of which were ad- 

govemmenti 

visory and judicial. It served also as a legislar 
tive chamber. The proprietor's laws could be enacted with 
the consent of the people, and to gain this consent a legis- 
lative meeting was held a year after the founding of the 
colony. This assembly seems to have been a mass meeting 
of all the freemen in the colony. Such a gathering was un- 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 59 

wieldy, and it was inconvenient for all the settlers to attend, 
and so, two or three years later, some of them sent proxies, 

and after a time the assembly became a rep- 

resentative body.* Moreover, before long the 
people were not content with the privilege of ratifying the 
enactments proposed by the proprietor ; they demanded the 
right to propose new laws. This right Baltimore granted. 
Thus we see that within ten years from the first settlement 
Maryland had a government not unlike that of Virginia, 
and in some respects not unlike that of the mother country. 
Throughout these early years toleration prevailed in 
Maryland. " This enjoyment of liberty of conscience did 

not spring from any act of colonial legislation, 
The Toleration ^^^^ from any formal and general edict of the 

government. . . . Toleration grew up in the 
province silently as a custom of the land." In 1649 it 
seemed wise to provide for religious freedom by positive en- 
actment, and in consequence the famous Toleration Act was 
placed upon the statute books. " And whereas the enforcing 
of the conscience in matters of religion hath frequently fallen 
out to be of dangerous consequence in those commonwealths 
where it hath been practiced, and for the more quiet and 
peaceable government of this province, and the better to pre- 
serve mutual love and amity among the inhabitants, no per- 
son within this province professing to believe in Jesus Christ 
shall be in any ways troubled, molested, or discountenanced, 
for his or her religion, or in the free exercise thereof." The 
council and assembly that passed this act were composed of 
both Catholics and Protestants, and it was an event of no 

* In 1638-39. This change is an interesting example of institu- 
tional growth. The principle of representation seems to us of child- 
like simplicity, yet the student of English history knows that centuries 
were required for its production and its application to the needs of the 
popular state. It may be considered perhaps the greatest bequest of 
England to politics. Here in Maryland in a few years are mirrored the 
changes of centuries in Europe. 



60 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

small importance in the history of mankind when adherents 
of these two faiths could thus amicably agree to live to- 
gether and respect each other's beliefs, even if it were in a 
corner of the New World. 

One would like to say that henceforth there was peace 
and amity in Maryland, and that the principle of religious 
freedom grew stronger as the years went by ; 
but unfortunately that tale can not be told. 
Some of the Puritans whom Baltimore had invited into the 
colony proved a restless and uneasy element, and found it 
difficult to take the oath of fidelity or to quiet their con- 
sciences so far as to accept the practice of religious tolera- 
tion. The Protestants by this time exceeded the Catholics 
in number. Various turmoils ensued and the rule of the 
proprietor was endangered; but in 1657 toleration was 
again established. 

On the whole a spirit of moderation and good sense 
seems to have prevailed in Maryland for some years. 
" Here," wrote a colonist in 1666, " the Roman 
frienSp?' ^^ CatJiolicJc and the Protestant Episcopal (whom 
the world would perswade have proclaimed open 
Wars irrevocably against each other) contrarywise concur 
in an unanimous parallel of friendship and inseparable love 
intayled unto one another." * 

After the revolution of 1688, when William and Mary 
came to the throne of England, Lord Baltimore was de- 
prived of the right to govern this province. A 
B ory. ^^^ years later the English Church was estab- 
lished in Maryland, and laws were passed that discriminated 
against Eoman Catholics. Early in the eighteenth century 
Benedict Calvert, the fourth Lord Baltimore, renounced the 

* Cecilius Calvert lived till 1675. He was a just man and a wise 
ruler. Even if his effort to make Maryland tolerant was prompted only 
by policy, it showed broadraindedness and good sense. At his death 
the people praised his " unwearied care to preserve them in the enjoy- 
ment of their lives, liberties, and fortunes." 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 61 

Catholic faith, and in 1715 full authority over this province 
was restored to him. Maryland thenceforward, until the 
Eevolution (1776), remained a proprietary colony. 

Refebences. 

Short accounts : Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 81-86 ; Fisher, The 
Colonial Era, Chapter V; Lodge, English Colonies, pp. 92-107. 
Longer accounts : Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume I, pp. 
476-517, Volume H, pp. 214-226; Doyle, The English in America, 
The Southern Colonies, pp. 365-436; Brown, Maryland (American 
Commonwealth Series), pp. 1-202; Brown, George and Cecilius Cal- 
vert; Fiske, Old Virginia and her Neighbors, Volume I, Chapter 
VIII, Volume II, Chapter XIII; Bancroft, History, Volume I, pp. 
154-175, 487-441 ; Hildreth, History of the United States, Volume 
I, pp. 204-213, 357-367. The reader will be especially entertained 
by the charming account of the founding of Maryland that is given 
in Eggleston's Beginners of a Nation, Book HI, Chapter I. 



THE CAROLINAS-1663-1700. 

In the middle of the seventeenth century there was but 
one real settlement on the Atlantic coast south of Virginia. 
The countr "^^^^^ ^^^ ^** ^^g^stine, in Florida, a Spanish 
south of outpost rather than a colony. French Hugue- 

Virgima. ^^^^^^ -^ ^-^^ 1^^ remembered, had made an effort 

to establish themselves in Florida, but without success. 
The Spaniards were quite unwilling to acknowledge the 
rights of any nation save themselves, but they could not 
occupy the country, and it lay open, inviting English colo- 
nization. The site was attractive for an agricultural colony 
because of the mildness of the climate and the richness of 
the soil. 

Not till the reign of Charles II was there a serious effort 
on the part of England to take possession of this region. 
The king, naturally lavish of his possessions, was sur- 
rounded with many favorites to whom he wished to be gra- 
cious and generous. Some of the men that had faithfully 
6 



62 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



stood by the royal house during its days of adversity, or 
who had aided Charles since his restoration, were especially 
deserving in his eyes. In 1663 he granted to a 
Grant of ^q^ ^f tj^ese men the territory of Carolina with 

somewhat indefinite limits. Two years later, 
by a new charter, the boundaries were fixed at parallel 36° 
30' on the north and 29° on the south — a vast principality 
stretching westward across the continent. The proprietors 
of this new dominion were among the most important men 
in England.* The Duke of Albemarle was that General 

Monk by whose instru- 
mentality Charles had 
been brought back to 
the throne of his fath- 
ers. The Earl of Clar- 
endon had been a 
most faithful friend in 
the days of exile. 
Anthony, Lord Ash- 
ley, afterward Earl of 
Shaftesbury, held at 
that time high official 
position, and was con- 
sidered the most astute 
politician in the king- 
dom. He is the original of Achitophel in Dryden's famous 
satire. Others were joined with these men as the owners 
of Carolina. 

The privileges and rights granted to the proprietors 
were as broad as their dominion. They lacked none of the 
essentials of kingship. The charter, it is true, seemed to 




* The charter calls them " our right trusty and well-beloved cousins 
and counsellors." They were said to be " excited with a laudable and 
pious zeal for the propagation of the Christian faith and the enlarge- 
ment of " the British dominions. 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 63 

recognize the desirability of religious toleration, and pro- 
vided that the freemen should ratify the laws. But it has 
been well said that " every favor was extended to the pro- 
prietors ; nothing was neglected but the interests of the 
English sovereign and the rights of the colonists." 

Before the proprietors took steps to colonize Carolina, 
settlements had already been made within the limits of 
their grant. Some Virginians had settled on the Chowan 
Eiver. This became a permanent settlement, and was the 
beginning of North Carolina. Somewhat later, colonists 
were sent over under the auspices of the proprietors. 
They first settled on the west shore of the Ashley Eiver 
(1670), but in a few years moved to the present 
^"■^^ site of Charleston.* This was the beginning 

of South Carolina. For a time these two set- 
tlements had the same governor, but in political and social 
life they were different. Each had its own character. 

When the proprietors entered earnestly on the task of 
colonization, they undertook to provide a model govern- 
ment for their tenants. The few people that 
Grand M d 1 ^^^^ already on the ground were getting on 
very well without an elaborate constitution. 
Here, as elsewhere, they were showing capacity for creat- 
ing institutions as they needed them, suited to their 
wants. But Shaftesbury entertained the hope that he 
could avoid "erecting a numerous democracy." He was 
the great friend of aristocratic privilege and power in 
England, and he doubtless thought that he could give an 
example of a typical aristocratic commonwealth. Shaftes- 
bury's secretary at this time was John Locke, who later be- 
came one of England's famous philosophers. He helped to 



* The proprietors sent them word : " We let you know that Oyster 
Point is the place we do appoint for the port town, of which you are to 
take notice and call it Charles Towne." So the present city of Charles- 
ton dates from 1680. 



64 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

draw up a constitution* for the colony. IS'ow, even in 
America, the home of written charters and fundamental 
laws, the maxim holds true that constitutions are not 
made, but grow. The one thing that was quite impossible 
under Locke's plan was growth. The country, wild as it 
was and almost uninhabited, was to be divided up with 
mathematical accuracy, and the feudal system in an ex- 
aggerated form was to be foisted upon the people. Various 
grades of society were established— proprietors and land- 
graves, and caciques and leetmen— and it was solemnly de- 
clared that " all the children of leetmen shall be leetmen, 
and so to all generations." \ This document, known as the 
" Fundamental Constitutions," is often referred to as Locke's 
" Grand Model." It is surprising that the clever philosopher 
and the crafty Shaftesbury could together have made oi 
countenanced such folly under the name of wisdom. 

This constitution is sometimes looked upon as a mere 
philosophic fantasy, fit for a museum of antiquities ; but it 
seems to have had a real effect on the history 
model on ^ of the Carolinas, although it was never fully 
colonial Hfe. enforced. Obedience to such a law was quite 
impossible, and the settlers were thus schooled by necessity 
to disregard the wishes of the proprietors, who had shown 
no sense in appreciating the needs of their colonies. The 
northern colony, rejecting this philosophic strait-jacket, 
showed its disobedience in acts of lawlessness ; the south- 
ern colony, a little more peacefully disobedient, early gave 
evidence of political sagacity, and carried out its opposition 
in orderly method with great deftness and skill. " In Caro 

* Though these are generally called Locke's laws, probably he acted 
as little more than a secretary rather than as sole author. 

f The charter provided that the proprietor could grant titles of no- 
bility, but that these titles must be different from any used in England. 
Hence the use of such absurd words as landgrave and cacique. Th« 
leetmen were tenants attached to the soil and " under the jurisdiction 
of their lord, without appeal." 



THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. C5 

lina," says Bancroft, " the disputes of a thousand years were 

crowded into a generation." The spirit of independence 

was early manifested, and before long the people secured 

the management of their own concerns. 

Upon the accession of William and Mary to the throne 

of England, South Carolina, like some of the other colonies, 

bade her governor begone. Proprietary gov- 

Conditions from ernment, however, lasted for some years after 
1688 to 1700. ^_ ' . ^ , XI, • X 

this revolution. But the proprietors gave up 

this futile effort to fasten " the grand model " on the people.* 
Before the end of the century both colonies increased in 
numbers and strength. ^NT egro slavery was introduced, and, 
especially in South Carolina, the slaves rapidly increased in 
numbers, t Various elements were added to the population ; 
French Huguenots, Hollanders, and Scotch Irish found 
their way thither. Different religious faiths existed side 
by side ; for, in spite of the efforts of the proprietors to es- 
tablish the English Church, and although the Catholics 
were exempted from the operation of a law guaranteeing 
complete freedom of conscience, substantial toleration and 
religious freedom prevailed. Though still weak in 1700, 
the Carolinas were thrifty and prosperous. The people of 
the southern colony, especially, seemed well provided with 
practical sense and progressive spirit. New England is 
often cited as an example of England's great power as a 
colonizing nation. But South Carolina will serve as well. 
She wished no tender paternalism. Business enterprise 

* The proprietors announced " that, as the people have declared they 
would rather be governed by the powers granted by the charter, with- 
out regard to the fundamental constitutions, it will be for their quiet 
and for the protection of the well disposed to grant their request." 

f "It became the great object of the emigrant *to buy negro slaves, 
without which,' adds Wilson, ' a planter can never do any great matter,' 
and ... in a few years, we are told, the blacks in the low country 
were to the whites in the proportion of twenty-two to twelve." (Ban- 
croft, History, vol. i, p. 431.) 



66 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



and political capacity tell her story. North Carolina, too, 
was not unprosperous, but at the end of the century her 
affairs seemed unsettled, and her feet were not quite so 
surely set on the way to real prosperity. 

References. 

Short accounts : Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 87-95r ; Fisher, The 
Colonial Era, Chapter VI. Longer accounts : Bryant and Gay, Pop- 
ular History, Volume II, pp. 268-290, 355-373 ; Doyle, The English 
in America, The Southern Colonies, Chapter XII ; Winsor, Narrative 
and Critical History, Volume V, Chapter V ; Bancroft, History, Vol- 
ume I, pp. 408-436, Volume II, pp. 10-16 ; Hildreth, History, Vol- 
ume II, pp. 25-43, 210-213 ; Fiske, Old Virginia and her Neighbors, 
Volume II, Chapter XV; Andrews, Colonial Self-government, Chap= 
ters IX, X. 




CHAPTER III. 
The New England Colonies— 1607-1700. 

PLYMOUTH. 

Nearly the whole coast of North America had been 
divided between the London and Plymouth Companies. 
The former established Jamestown, but the Plymouth Com- 
pany at first had no such success. Some of its members 
were zealous for colonization, and eager to get a hold upon 
the mainland and to enjoy a monopoly of the fisheries ;, but 
Effrt t f nd ®^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ end were fruitless. The same 
settlements at year that Jamestown was founded a party of 
the north. q^q hundred and twenty people was sent out 

to the mouth of the Kennebec, under the leadership of 
George Popham, a nephew of the Chief Justice of Eng- 
land. They began their settlement with great hopes, but 
soon met with disappointment. When the long, bitter 
winter set in, cold and disease brought suffering and death 
to the colony. Popham himself died, and the next summer 
the enterprise was abandoned. This failure seems to have 
prejudiced the people of England against the bleak and 
forbidding north, and for some years no other effort at set- 
tlement was made. In 1614, John Smith, the 
named.''^^^''^ doughty soldier who had saved Jamestown, 
made a voyage to these coasts and explored 
them from the Penobscot to Cape Cod. He drew a map of 
the coast, sprinkled it plentifully with English names, and 
christened it " New England." * 

* Smith says on his map : " The most remarqueable parts thus named 
by the high and mighty Prince Charles, Prince of Great Britaine." 

67 



68 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



^ffeiin'Bml^/fycJoft Smiths <^4cia tf tforc) 

'i 



C^.|1S'J^' J-i«f'5f^'.&.^ 





JtoBert CUrkt eXtnAt 



Motives of 



settlement. 



Part of John Smith's Map of New England. 

Smith ventured the prophecy that nothing but hope oi 
riches would ever people that region or "draw company 
from their ease and humours at home." But 
there was a nobler and stronger motive than 
the love of ease and wealth, and this proved 
powerful enough to fortify men against the unspeakable 
trials and hardships of New England winters, and gave 
them the heart to build homes on the bleak coast which 
at first seemed so forbidding. The first successful colo- 
nies at the north were made under the inspiration and 
enthusiasm of religion by men whose lives were devoted to 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 69 

holy purposes, to whom wealth was of little moment if they 
were allowed to worship as they chose and to live their 
simple lives in a state of their own building. To under- 
stand aright how these permanent settlements came to be 
made, we must get some idea of the religious strivings and 
dissensions of that day in England. 

Students of English history will remember that, in the 
reign of Henry VIII, the Church in England was separated 
from the Eoman Church and dependence on 
S'EfgS.'"*' t^e P<>Pe renounced. In the time of Eliza- 
beth, however, not all the people were Protest- 
ants, nor was there agreement as to forms of worship or 
methods of church government. The queen insisted upon 
conformity to the regulations of the Established Church, of 
which she was the head, and during her reign perhaps the 
majority of the people acquiesced in the conservative posi- 
tion she adopted. Many, on the other hand, were dissatis- 
fied, and some were ready to suffer persecution rather than 
conform to the existing order. The land still contained 
Roman Catholics who believed that the Pope was the true 
head of the Church. Others, on the contrary, were desir- 
ous of freeing the Church from forms and symbolism, which 
they considered relics of Romanism and superstition. They 
wished to " purify " the Church by adopting simpler modes 
of worship. They objected to the sign of the cross in bap- 
tism, to the use of the surplice, and to other practices of 
this kind. Still another class believed that the form of 
church government should be altered, that the creed and 
ritual should be prescribed not by the queen but by assem- 
blies. These persons were known as Presbyterians, because 
they believed in the appointment of church dignitaries 
called presbyters. All of these classes, so far named, be- 
lieved in a state church, but disagreed as to its government 
or as to forms of worship. There was, in addition, another 
sect of extreme Puritans, who believed that a church was a 
local body of believers, and that each such body had the 



YO HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

right to elect its own ministers and determine its own 
methods. These men were called " Independents " or " Sepa- 
ratists," because they believed in separation from the Estab- 
*lished Church. 

Even during the reign of Elizabeth members of dissent- 
ing sects * were severely punished for nonconformity. The 
queen loved symmetry and order, and hated the 
Dissenters semblance of disagreement in church manage- 

DftTSflCTlTifiQ 

ment. The Separatists were dealt with sharply. 
Some of their members were hanged for nonconformity. 
Upon the accession of James there was no improvement. 
He was a stickler for prerogative, and in his narrow, dogged 
way was determined to reign with a high hand in church 
and state. But the Puritans grew apace. The stately 
Elizabeth had been enabled to hold her people ; her pre- 
tensions as the head of the Church seemed not gross blas- 
phemy. They loved her well, for she was devoted to Eng- 
land, had repelled the infamous Spaniard, and protected 
with rare shrewdness her people and her throne. But 
James was personally a sloven, mentally a pedant, morally 
selfish, bigoted, and mean. Demand for civil and religious 
liberty was sure to grow as a revolt against the assumption 
of such a monarch, who believed in his divine right to rule. 
We are especially interested in a congregation of ear- 
nest, conscientious folk who came together for worship in 
the little hamlet of Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire. They 

* The sects may be thus designated : 

1. Roman Catholics. 

2. Episcopalians : a. High Church, b. Low Church . . . Puritans. 

3. Presbyterians. 

4. Separatists. 

The Low Church, Presbyterians, and Separatists ought all to be 
called Puritans, inasmuch as all desired " purification " to some degree. 
Adherents of any of these sects might outwardly "conform" and thus 
be "conformists," or refuse to attend church and receive the sacra- 
ment of the Established Church, and thus be "nonconformists." The 
Separatists were likely to be nonconformists. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 71 

were Separatists, and were therefore set upon and tor- 
mented. They could not long continue " in any peaceable 
condition ; but were hunted and persecuted on 
The Scrooby every side, so as their former afflictions were 

congregation. -^ ii-.-.- • • £ ,i 

but as nea - bitmgs m comparison oi these 
which now came upon them. For some were taken, & clapt 
up in prison, others had their homes besett & watcht night 
and day, & hardly escaped their hands ; and y^ most were 
faine to flie & leave their howses and habitations, and the 
means of their livelehood." * Thus molested and beset, " by 
a joynte consente they resolved to goe into y^ Low-Countries, 
where they heard was freedome of Religion for all men." 
Betaking themselves to Amsterdam (1608), they went 

thence to Leyden. But they still loved the 
They become (jg^j. England which had treated them so 

pilgrims. 

harshly. They had much to struggle against 
in Holland, although the church prospered. " That which 
was ... of all sorrowes most heavie to be borne ; was that 
many of their children . . . were drawne away . . . into 
extravagante, dangerous courses." So they determined to 
go to America and build for themselves new homes far from 
the vices of Europe and beyond the reach of the long arm 
of persecution. 

" The place they had thoughts on was some of those vast 
and unpeopled countries of America, which are fruttful, & 

fitt for habitation, being devoyd of all civill in- 
Theycometo habitants, wher ther are only salvage & brut- 

America. . . ./ o 

ish men which range up and downe little oth- 
erwise than y^ wild beasts of the same." They obtained 
money from merchant "adventurers" in England, and a 



* This and the following quotations are from History of Plymouth 
Plantation, by William Bradford, second governor of the colony. 
Bradford has justly been called the father of American history. His 
book was left in manuscript, and was not published till about the mid- 
dle of the present century. It is beautifully written. '• The daily food 
of his spirit was noble." 



72 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

grant from the London Company. They probably wished to 
settle somewhere in the northern part of the London Com- 
pany's grant, yet south of stern New England, whose cold 
winters were known to them. It did not seem wise for the 
whole Leyden congregation to go, but an advance guard of 
one hundred and two brave souls sailed from Plymouth, Eng- 
land, in the good ship Mayflower, September, 1620. The 
weather was rough and tempestuous. The captain lost his 
reckoning, and when they first saw land it was not the New 
Jersey shore, but the bleak wintry coast of New England, in 
the neighborhood of Cape Cod. There they finally deter- 
mined to stay and to build their homes on the west side of 
the broad bay, at a point to which Smith had already given 
the name of Plymouth. Before leaving their 
The Mayflower ^^- ^. ^^^^ together in the little cabin 

compact. r J & 

and drew up the famous Mayflower Compact, 
whereby they solemnly covenanted and combined them- 
selves into a " civill body politick " for their " better order- 
ing and preservation." They acknowledged their dread 
sovereign King James, but they declared as well their 
intention to make and obey the laws. This was not 
an announcement of independence, but it meant self- 
government.* 

It was the 21st of December before they disembarked. 
The land offered but a dreary prospect. "For summer 

being done, all things stand upon them with a 
Hardship met aether-beaten face ; and y^ whole countrie, full 

with courage. 7 j ' 

of woods and thickets, represented a wild and 
savage heiw." The first winter was full of terrible distress. 
In two or three months' time half their company were laid 
away in graves under the snow. In the time of most dis- 



* It is an interesting fact that the government thus drawn up was 
the same in form as they were authorized by the Virginia Company to 
institute until something more permanent could be done. See especially 
Eggleston, Beginners, etc., p. 173. 





















3 






Y4 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

tress there were but " 6 or 7 sound persons ; who . . . spared 
no pains, but . . . fetched wood " for the sick, " made them 
fires, drest them meat, made their beads . . . cloathed and 
uncloathed them. . . . Whilst they had health, yea or any 
strength continuing, they were not wanting to any that had 
need of them." When the Mayflower sailed back to Eng- 
land, not one of the settlers returned. They planted corn, 
they built homes, they met together in town meeting, they 
worshiped God in their own simple fashion. The Puritan 
state and the Puritan church in America were begun. 

The leaders of the company were Brewster and Brad- 
ford and the hardy soldier Miles Standish ; yet all had the 
„ ,„ heroism of steadfastness and faith. When the 

Stpfi nil ^iriP^^ 

and courage crops of this first summer were gathered a day 
bring success, ^f thanksgiving was appointed. Ee-enforce- 
ments came from Europe, but some years passed away be- 
fore the success of the undertaking was assured. They 
were not molested by the Indians, because the numbers of 
the red men had been greatly reduced by a pestilence, and 
this was attributed to the fact that shortly before this some 
white men had been killed. The Indians stood, in conse- 
quence, in superstitious awe of the colonists. Moreover, 
Massasoit, a powerful chief, became their friend, and he 
directed them " how to set their corne, wher to take fish, 
. . . and never left them till he dyed." 

Where there was so much energy and devotion success 
was sure to follow. The settlers first secured a grant from 

the Plymouth Company, on whose land they 
beginnings had settled. Then they paid off all dues to the 
great things London adventurers, and in 1633 were free 

from debt and owners of their tract of land. 
The colony never became a large one, but it was prosper- 
ous, wholesome, and sound. It showed the way to others, 
and prepared for the greater migration of which we shall 
now read. " Out of small beginnings," said Bradford, 
" great things have been produced ; and, as one small can- 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. Y5 

die may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath 
shone to many, yea, in some sort to our whole nation." * 



MASSACHUSETTS BAY AND HER NEIGHBORS. 

We have already seen that during the reign of James I 

there were growing discontents in England. When his son 

Charles came to the throne (1625) new trou- 

Charies I and j^^gg gg^ jj^^ jj^ ^^g ^ven more ohstinate than 

Parliament, 

his father, and had high ideas of his own author- 
ity, and contempt for such principles of the constitution as 
were meant to restrain the arbitrary conduct of the king. 
" The king is in his own nature very stiff," said Sir Ferdi- 
nand Fairfax, and this well describes the character of the 
young monarch who now set himself the task of ruling 
without regard to the wishes of the nation. He began al- 
most at once to quarreLwith the House of Commons, de- 
manding money from it without deigning to listen to com- 
plaints or consenting to consider grievances.! But the 
House could not be browbeaten. They wrested from him 
his consent to the famous Petition of Right. His word did 
not bind him, however ; he disregarded his promises and 
went on as before. In 1629 he dissolved Parliament, and 
for eleven years he ruled without one, extorting money 
from his subjects with high-handed indifference to their 
rights. These were fateful years for England. Archbishop 
Laud and the Earl of Strafford laid their heavy hands upon 
the people. They sought to crush out all opposition, and 
to cow the people into complete submission to the king. 

* For a picturesque description of hfe in Plymouth in early days, 
read Hart, American History, etc., vol. i, p. 356, where Governor Edward 
Winslow is quoted. 

f " I would you would hasten for my supply," he exclaimed in an- 
ger when the House sent in a list of grievances, " or else it will be the 
worse for yourselves, for if any ill happen I think I shall be the last to 
feel it." 



Y6 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Because of these conditions in England a great migra 

tion to America set in. In these years, wlien King Charles 

was ruling without a parliament and exacting 

The great illegal taxes from the people, over twenty thou- 

migratioiii ^ x x ^ ^ 

sand persons left their homes and sailed for 
New England.* If one is to appreciate the meaning of this 
great movement one should understand its causes and his- 
torical circumstances. The men who came to America in 
those years cherished the principles of the English Consti- 
tution, and were from the same class as those who, later in 
the great rebellion (1642-'49), fought to maintain the liber- 
ties of England. They believed that a monarch had no 
right to take money from the people without the consent 

of Parliament. They believed that the people 
s meaning. -^^^ rights and privileges, and many of them 
realized, in part at least, the force of the maxim that be- 
came fundamental in the New World — that government 
obtains its just powers from the consent of the governed. 
We may consider, therefore, that the principles for which 
our Revolution was afterward fought were brought by these 
men to America from amid the trials of troubled England 
in the days of Charles I. No doubt these principles grew 
more sturdy in the air of a New World, but the principles 
of 1776 were not new ideas or the sudden oifspring of the 
tyranny of George III. They were English principles, for 
which the people of England fought in their rebellion and 
which they made good in the revolution of 1688; and in 
the Revolution of 1776 the American people, more true to 
these principles than England herself, struggled to main- 
tain them and make them effective. 

To appreciate this movement it is also necessary to un- 
derstand the character and purposes of these emigrants. 

* It has been estimated, I know not with what accuracy, that about 
thirteen million of the present inhabitants of the United States are de- 
scended from these twenty thousand persons. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 77 

They were Puritans — not Separatists, but believers in tlie 
state Churcli. They believed, however, that the Estab- 
lished Church needed purification. They came 
the^settrr^^ to America that they might worship as they 
chose, free from the persecution of Laud. 
They did not come to establish toleration, but to carry out 
their own ideas in religion. They were, moreover, men of 
ideals and men of character. They were not of common 
origin or of common ability. Many of them were men of 
education and of wide experience. Among them were 
scholars and statesmen and learned ministers. They had 
strong convictions and great earnestness of purpose. The 
characteristic organ of their communities was " not the 
hand, nor the heart, nor the pocket, but the brain." * 

Having seen the meaning of this great movement, let us 

now see how the settlements were made and how they 

prospered. There was at this time a little 

^^l}7 ^ settlement at Salem, then called Naumkeag. 

settlements! *^ 

A few persons had been brought there after an 

unsuccessful effort to establish a colony at Cape Ann. 
Salem now formed a center or gathering point for a new 
immigration. j^ 

John White, a Puritan rector of Dorchester, England, 
entertained the hope of raising in America " a bulwark 
J against the kingdom of Antichrist." In a 

pamphlet which is attributed to his pen the 
Puritans were urged " to avoid the plague while it is fore- 
seen," and not to tarry till it overtake them.f White en- 

* Tyler's History of American Literature, vol. i, p. 98. The student 
will find Chapter V interesting and profitable reading. The men who 
founded Massachusetts are said to have come from that class of men 
" in whom at that time centered for the English-speaking race the pos- 
sibility for any further progress in human society." See also Fiske, 
The Beginnings of New England, chap. iii. 

f " Well might Englishmen long for a refuge where they might pre- 
serve these constitutional forms whose day seemed in England to have 
7 



78 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

couraged the few settlers still at Salem to remain there, 
and took steps to secure a legal basis for the colony. The 
old Plymouth Company, which had been coupled with the 
London Company in the original charter 
The land grant, g^.^^^^^^j ^^ j^^^^g ^^ ;^(506,* had received a sepa- 
rate charter, and was now known as the Council for New 
England. From it a tract of land was obtained ; the north- 
ern boundary was three miles north of the Merrimac River, 
and its southern was three miles south of the Charles. It 
extended westward to the Pacific. In 1628 a little com- 
pany of sixty persons set sail for Salem under the leader- 
ship of John Endicott, Gentleman, " a man well known to 
divers persons of good note." f 

The next spring a royal charter was granted by the 
king creating a corporation with the title of the Governor 
and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in 
i^ls-^ilT' ^^^ England. It is one of the curious con- 
trasts of history that in the same year and the 
same week that the headstrong monarch entered upon the 
task of ruling without a parliament he granted a charter 
to this company, whose work was fated to result in the 
erection across the water of a great free republic, which 
was destined to cherish and develop the principles he was 
seeking to crush. This charter will bear examination, for 
out of it grew important forms of colonial government. 

passed away, and that political freedom which at home, if saved at all, 
could be saved only by the sword." See Doyle, The English in America 
(The Puritan Colonies), vol. i, p. 116. 

* See ayife, page 36. 

f " A fit instrument to begin this wilderness work, of courage bold, 
undaunted, yet sociable and of a cheerful spirit, loving and austere, 
applying himself to either as occasion served " (From the Wonder- 
working Providence). Endicott came over to New England in 1628, 
and was governor at Salem till the transfer of the charter. He was 
deputy governor from 1641 to 1644, and also in 1650, and was governor 
at various times— 1644, 1649, 1651-1665, except 1654. He was a severe 
disciplinarian, rigid in religion, and a stern ruler. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. Y9 

The affairs of the company were intrusted to a governor, 
deputy governor, and eighteen assistants, who were elected 
annually by the freemen or members of the corporation. 
These officers were to meet once a month or oftener to 
transact business, and four times a year they were to meet 
with all the freemen in " one great, general, and solemn as- 
sembly." The freemen in these " great and general " courts 
had the power to make laws and ordinances for the welfare 
of the company and for the government of the plantation, 
" so as such laws and ordinances be not contrary and re- 
pugnant to the laws and statutes of the realm of England." 
Soon after the granting of the charter about four hundred 
persons embarked for New England. 

The company in England now decided upon the impor- 
tant step of transferring its seat of government and taking 
its charter to America. This change was of 
The transfer of g^g^^ moment. The company thus fully resi- 
dent in the New World was more than a trad- 
ing company, such as it might appear to be on the face of 
the charter. Legally it was still a corporation under the 
control of the King of England ; actually it developed into 
a self-governing commonwealth, a body politic, in nearly all 
respects independent and self-sufficient.* 

This transference of the charter took place in 1630, and 
in the same year nearly one thousand persons went over to 
Massachusetts. This was the greatest effort at colonization 



* " Under the disguise of a trading company and a commercial 
charter, they went forth to found a State and erect an independent gov- 
ernment " (Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in Amer- 
ica, p. 344). The company records say: "And lastly, the Governor 
read certain propositions conceived by himself, viz. : That for the ad- 
vancement of the Plantation, the inducing and encouraging persons of 
worth and quality to transplant themselves and families thither, and 
for other weighty reasons therein contained, to transfer the govern- 
ment of the Plantation to those that shall inhabit there, and not to 
continue the same in subordination to the Company here, as now it is." 



80 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

as yet made by Englislimen. John Winthrop,* a man of 
noble and lofty spirit, a magnanimous and gentle soul, one 

of the best products of his age, a high type of 

the Puritan statesman and scholar, came out as 
governor of the colony. 

Other settlements were rapidly founded. Charlestown 
had already been begun, and here Winthrop at first made 

his home ; but he later moved to the peninsula 
Varions 1]^^^ ]^y ^^ ^j^e south and west of Charlestown, 

where three bare hills raised their heads, a place 
" very uneven, abounding in small hollows and swamps, cov- 
ered with blueberries and other bushes." With Winthrop 
went a number of other people, and they " began to build 
their homes against winter ; and this 23lace was called Bos- 
ton." Other towns sprang up. Within a year of Winthrop's 
arrival there were eight separate settlements extending from 
Salem on the north to Dorchester on the south. 

We may well notice the various changes that were made 
in the government of this colony. The charter of a trading 

company in reality furnished the basis of the 
^JvOT^Jnt government of the people. Self-government 

was not here, as in Virginia, a gift from the 
company to the settler ; the settlers ivere the compan}^ and 
as members of the corporation they governed themselves, f 
As the people were now separated into various towns and 



jh * This picture of Winthrop is engraved in many places, notably in. 
Winthrop's History, in Winsor's Memorial His^ry of Boston, etc. It is 
a copy of a painting supposed to be by the great artist Vandyke. It 
hangs in the Senate Chamber of Massachusetts. He was governor of 
Massachusetts Bay from his arrival in 1630 to 1634, and at several other 
times. 

f Of course there were in Massachusetts many settlers who were not 
members of the company, but the substantial truth is stated in the text. 
It might be more exact to say that the members of the company were 
settlers. The student should notice how the government of a corpora- 
tion grew into the government of a political body. 



THE »™ E»,,,,„„ roMmK-»,-,„. „ 

powei, and, it seems, assumed the 




John Winthrop 
The original is in the Statehouse, Boston 



82 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

upon to pay a tax, " the pastor, elder, etc., assembled the 
people and delivered the opinion that it was not safe to pay 
moneys after that sort, for fear of bringing themselves and 
posterity into bondage." This was the true American doc- 
trine, " No taxation without representation." Soon after 
this (May, 1632) the General Court agreed " that the gov- 
ernor and assistants should all be new chosen every year by 
the General Court." " Every town chose two men to be at 
the next court, to advise with the governor and assistants 
about the raising of a public stock, so as what they should 
agree upon should bind all." * Somewhat later it was or- 
dered " that every town should send their deputies, who 
should assist in making laws, disposing lands, etc." 

For some time these representatives or deputies sat with 
the governor and assistants as one body, but in 1G44 another 
change was made. A controversy had arisen 
business on between a rich man and a poor woman over the 
small ocossion, ownership of a stray pig. The people became 
interested in the dispute, and it was at length brought be- 
fore the assistants and the deputies for settlement. The 
majority of the assistants voted against the poor woman, the 
majority of the deputies in her favor. Then " there fell out 
a great business upon a very small occasion," as Winthrop 
said. The assistants and deputies were now separated into 
two houses. Thus it came about that the legislature had 
two branches instead of one. 

It was early declared by the law of the colony that no 

men should " be admitted to the freedom of 

Ind tSate. ^^^^ ^^^^ politic but such as are members of 

some of the churches within the limits of the 

same." In other words, in order to have a share in the 

government a man must be a church member. Thus it was 

* These quotations are from The History of New England from 1630 
to 1649, by John Winthrop. Governor Winthrop in this book, which is 
in the form of a diary, has left for us his own account of the building 
of Massachusetts. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 83 

that in many ways the church and the state were one.* This 
limitation of the suffrage wao' altered and a more liberal 
rule was adopted in 1664, but this modification probably 
had little practical effect. 

It is important to notice that the people of each little 
settlement within the colony began early in its history to 
regulate its own concerns. Each little band 
of settlers was bound together by ties of com- 
mon interest. The center of their life was usually the church. 
Matters that concerned the well-being of the community 
were passed upon in the meeting of the freemen of the town. 
Thus the colony became a group of little self-governing 
towns which were subject legally to the laws of the Gen- 
eral Court, but which in fact regulated in large part their 
own affairs. The members of the town carefully managed 
matters of communal interest, watched over communal 
property, and guarded against any intrusion from without. 
The town therefore was not merely a place of abode or a 
number of houses, nor was it simply a number of people 
through whom the laws of the colony were enforced ; it was 
a body of people with many common business interests, 
with kindred purposes and hopes. 

Within four years from the settlement of Boston there 
were four thousand people in the colony. They were in- 
dustrious and thrifty ; they built houses, laid 
out roads, and tilled the soil. Not content 
with mere bodily well-being, they decided that learning 
should not " be buried in the graves " of their fathers. 
They knew that it was " one chief project " of " that old 
deluder Satan " " to keep men from the knowledge of 
the Scriptures " by persuading them " from the use of 
tongues." f In 1636 the General Court appropriated money 

* At the beginning it was really an extension of the suffrage. 

f These words are part of an ordinance passed in 1647, at which 
time the law for the establishment of a school in each township was 
passed. Legislation on the subject had been passe'd even earlier. 



84 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

for a college, and two years later John Harvard, ''a godly 
Gentleman and a lover of learning," gave tlie " one halfe of 
his Estate (it being in all about 1700 ?.) . . . and all his 
library" for this purpose. A law was soon passed requiring 
every township of fifty householders to maintain a school 
for reading and writing, and every town of a hundred house- 
holders a grammar school to fit youths for the university. 

As soon as the colony was fairly established it was con- 
fronted with dangers. Its success attracted the attention 
of the king and of the ever-watchful Laud, 
Dangerfrom ^hom Charles had just made the Archbishop 
^^ *^ ' of Canterbury. To Laud a Puritan common- 

wealth across the sea was a hateful thing. Steps were taken 
to annul the charter in the courts (1635) ; but Massachu- 
setts was not willing to be ruled by Laud. It proposed to 
fight, if need be. The governor and assistants held counsel 
with the ministers, and they decided : " If a General Gov- 
ernor were sent, we ought not to accept him, but defend 
our lawful possessions (if we were able) ; otherwise to avoid 
or protract." The General Court ordered the building of 
fortifications, captains were authorized " to train unskilled 
men," and bullets were made legal tender for the payment 
of debts.* Very good examples these of the fact that in 
the history of states the child is the father of the man. 
Fortunately, the trouble blew over. The storm was brew- 
ing in England that brought both Laud and Charles to the 
scaffold. 

While this danger from its foes in England was disturb- 
ing the colony there was also trouble within. A young 
Welshman named Eoger Williams brought dis- 

RogerWiUiams. ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ g^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^f 

ability, of sound morals, and of pure purpose ; but he was 
impulsive, and fond of argument. He was gentle and re- 

* " At this court brass farthings were forbidden, and musket balls 
made to pass for farthings" (Winthrop, History, vol. i, p. 186). See 
also Palfrey, History of New England, vol. i, p. 394. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 85 

fined, and yet lie reveled in dispute and controversy. He 
now declared that the lands of the colony belonged to the 
red man ; that the King of England could not give away 
what he did not own. He said, too, that the power of the 
civil magistrates extended only to the bodies and goods 
and " outAvard state of men," or, in other words, that there 
should be freedom of worship and entire separation of 
church and state. He made many other assertions that 
angered the good Puritan fathers, who were then in trouble 
enough because of the enmity of Charles and Laud, and did 
not wish dispute and bickering within the colony, but 
longed for unity of aim and a common front against a com- 
mon enemy. They had no desire to listen to " divers new 
and dangerous opinions." The General Court ordered 
Williams away, but when preparations were made to send 
him to England he fled into the woods (January, 1636).* 
He passed the Avinter in the wilderness among the Indians, 
" sorely tossed," as he afterward said, " for fourteen weeks 
in a bitter winter season, not knowing what bread or bed 
did mean." The next summer he made his way to Narra- 

gansett Bay, and together with a few friends 
Providence. ^^^^^ *^^ settlements founded Providence. The 

first government of this little colony, which de- 
veloped into Rhode Island, was a simple democracy built on 
the principle of majority rule. Its power was not to extend 
to matters of conscience, but only to " civil things." f 

Hardly had Williams disappeared from Massachusetts 
Bay when even more serious difficulties arose. Anne 
Hutchinson, a brilliant woman " of a nimble wit and active 
spirit," began preaching doctrines that filled the little town 

* See Fiske, Beginnings of New Eng., p. 114 ; Richman, Rhode Island. 

f " We whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit the town of 
Providence, do promise to subject ourselves in active and passive obedi- 
ence to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for public good of 
the body in an orderly way by the major assent of the present inhabi- 
tants, masters of families incorporated together into a town fellowship, 
and such others whom they shall admit unto them, only in civil things." 



86 



HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Mrs. 
Hutcliinsoni 



1-. 



r,roVIDENCE \^ 









of Boston with excitement. We need not discuss the mean- 
ing of her teachings ; to the modern reader not versed in 
theological lore her propositions seem vague 
and almost unintelligible. But the early Bos- 
tonians were fond of religious discussion, and 
Mistress Hutchinson carried forward her work with so much 
skill and with such feminine tact that the little common- 
wealth throbbed with interest. She came to have a large 

following, and the church 
was divided into two bit- 
terly hostile factions. But 
her enemies prevailed 
against her, and Mrs. 
Hutchinson was banished. 
Thereupon peace was ob- 
tained in Massachusetts 
Bay. " Not any unsound, 
unsavorie and giddie fancy 
have dared," said a con- 
temporary writer, " to lift 
up his head or abide the 
light among us." 

Thus we see that the 
Puritan of those days was 
not bent upon establishing toleration. He had, in fact, no 
patience with " giddie fancies." He had not yet reached 
the good sense and the charity that lay at the 
bottom of Eoger Williams's theories. But, on 
the other hand, these men can not be justly charged with 
inconsistency. They came to found a settlement where 
they could carry out their own ideas ; and when they found 
their project imperiled or their peace disturbed, they bade 
these unwelcome elements begone. 

With some of her followers Mrs. Hutchinson went, as 
Williams had done, to Narragansett Bay, and bouglit from 
the Indians the island of Aquedneck for " forty fathoms of 




? A /RHODE ISLAND 
& PROVIDENCE 
PLANTATIONS 



Intolerance. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 



87 



Connecticut. 



Saytrook and 
New Haven, 



white beads." This was later called the " Isle of Ehodes, 
or Ehode Island." Dissensions arose among the settlers. 
So some of them went away and founded New- 
port. These various settlements were later 
united into one colony, known as the Providence Planta- 
tions (1644), under a very liberal charter, which declared 
that the people should rule themselves "by such form of 
civil government as by the voluntary consent of all or the 
greatest part of them shall be found most serviceable to 
their estate and condition." 

We must now turn our attention to the founding of 
Connecticut, a colony which was in part an off- 
spring of Massachusetts. In 1635, John Win- 
throp, son of the Massachusetts governor, acting for Lord 
Say and Sele and Lord Brooke, who had obtained a patent 
for the land, established a colony near the 
mouth of the Connecticut Eiver and named it 
Saybrook. A few years 
later New Haven was founded. 

We are chiefly interested, how- 
ever, in the settlements farther 
A ^^„.o+,'.r, "to the north made by 

A migration ^ "^ 

from emigrants from the 

Massachnsetts. ^-^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^f ^j^g. 

sachusetts Bay. It may be that 

this migration was but a natural 

swarming of the people, but there 

is some evidence that it was 

brought about by dissatisfaction, 

and that the people moved be- ^ ^^ 

cause they were out of sympathy ^-V^^^ ,5j^>7i^i^^^. 

with the hard rule of the united ^ *i^ 

church and state of Massachusetts. The great leader was 

Thomas Hooker, a learned and eloquent preacher and a 

man of great personal force.* 

* "III matters .... which concern the common good," said Hooker, 




S8 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Some settlers went out in 1634 and 1635. In the next 

year a great migration set in. " Hereing of y® fame of 

Conightecute Eiver.^ they had s, hankering 

The valley mind after it." Hooker and a conffre^ation 

tOWUSi 

of one hundred or more made their way to the 
Connecticut Valley and began the building of Hartford.* 
Within a year the new colony had eight hundred people 
gathered in the three towns of AYindsor, Hartford, and 
Wethersfield. But laying the foundations of this new com- 
monwealth was not an easy thing which we can pass by 
without a word of appreciation. There was much suifering 
in the early years, for to build new homes in a wilderness 
under the best of circumstances means privation, if not act- 
ual want. The worst of horrors, an Indian war, was added 
to other trials. In the early days the Pequots kept the lit- 
tle settlements in continual fear. In the summer of 1637 a 
small band of white men attacked the Indians in their pali- 
saded town and practically exterminated them. " It is re- 
ported by themselves," said one of the victorious party, 
" that there were about four hundred souls in the fort, and 
not five of them escaped out of our hands." 

The people of these three towns were at first nominally 
under the control of Massachusetts ; but in 1639 they formed 
a government for themselves and drew up the 
L^dw^f lelg. ^^"^ous Fundamental Orders. The new govern- 
ment was not unlike that of Massachusetts. 
The inhabitants of each town could choose four deputies 
in the legislative assembly, called the General Court, while 

" a general council chosen by all to transact business which concerns all, 
I conceive .... most suitable to rule and most safe for relief of the 
whole." This sentiment was different from that of Winthrop, who had 
declared that " the best part is always the least, and of that best part 
the wiser part is always the lesser." This difference between the ideas 
of Hooker and Winthrop may perhaps illustrate the reasons for the 
movement to the Connecticut Valley. 

* See Hart. American History, etc., vol. i, pp. 412, 413. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 89 

the governor and six magistrates or assistants, also forming 
part of the General Court, were elected by the whole body 
of the people. Possibly, if we compare these Orders, drawn 
up by these free-thinking men in the Connecticut wilder- 
ness, with modern constitutions and with all the principles 
that have grown up about them, we should hesitate to say 
that they were really Mdiat they have sometimes been called 
— " the first truly political written constitution in history." 
But even if they were in one sense not a constitution, we 
should not lose sight of the significance of the fact that these 
frontiersmen were showing marked capacity for organization 
and were easily and of their own accord mapping out a sys- 
tem of government and preparing to live quietly under the 
laws made by themselves. Such an act as this was to be 
done once and again as the American frontier was pushed 
westward, and as men, cut off by the intervening forest from 
their older homes, found need of new laws and their own 
magistrates. Such early examples of political capacity and 
self-reliant spirit challenge our attention ; here we see not 
only power in law-making and an adaptation to new condi- 
tions, but also an unhesitating assumption of authority to 
act as best suited the needs of the time. 

A settlement was made within the present limits of New 
Hampshire soon after the founding of Plymouth. Possibly 
this continued to exist. However this may be, 
a little later a permanent settlement was made 
at Dover (before 1628). Other settlements followed. In 
a short time these towns were made part of Massachusetts 
(1641-'43). Thus the history of New Hampshire is part of 
that of the older colony until 1679. 

Mason and Gorges, two Englishmen who were for many 

years interested in colonization, obtained at an early day a 

grant to all the land between the Merrimac and 

the Kennebec. This property was later divided, 

and Mason became possessed of the territory between the 

Merrimac and the Piscataqua. Gorges received the remain- 



90 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



der. Mason's share was, roughly speaking, New Hampshire, 
and this part, as we have seen, was after a time annexed to 

Massachusetts. On 
Gorges's portion of 
this grant there 
were a number of 
little settlements, 
some of them made 
quite early in the 
history of New 
England.* But 
they grew very 
slowly, and a trav- 
eler who sailed 
along the coast in 
1638 described the 
region as " no other 
than a mere wilder- 
ness, with here and 
there by the sea- 
side a few scattered 
plantations with a 
few houses." f The province was absorbed by Massachu- 
setts (1652-'58). Thus we see that Massachusetts became 
possessed of all the New England coast north of Plymouth. 
Almost immediately after the founding of Connecticut 
there was some discussion as to the advisability of forming 
a league among the various New England colo- 

Need of union, . ^, <? i • • , 

nies. The purpose of combimng was to secure 
mutual protection. The Pequot War had shown the danger 
of an Indian outbreak. Moreover, the Dutch on the Hud- 
son were troublesome and ambitious neighbors, while the 

* In 1639 Gorges was made Lord Proprietor of Maine. 

f " In this province," said an English commission in 1665, " there 
are but few Townes, and those much scattered as generally they are 
throughout New England. They are rather farmes than Townes." 




TLA N T I C 



OCEAN 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1G07-1700. 91 

French at the north, though seemingly afar off, had already 
shown that they were near enough to cause uneasiness if 
not danger. 

A union was therefore formed. With Massachusetts, 
the strongest of all, were joined Connecticut, Plymouth, 
New Endand ^^^ "^^^ Havcn. A written constitution was 
confederation, adopted, whereby was formed " The United 
i643-'84. Colonies of ]^ew England." The association 

was declared to be a " firm and perpetual league of friend- 
ship." Its affairs were placed in the hands of eight com- 
missioners, whose right it was to determine upon all mat- 
ters of common interest to the members of the league^ 
"which were the proper concomitants or consequents of 
such a confederation of amity, offence, and defence." The 
confederation lasted some years, in fact not entirely disap- 
pearing until 1684. It must have had an important effect 
on the later history of America. Eighty years passed by 
before the popular representatives from all the colonies 
came together to protest against the novel laws of England, 
and to body forth the real unity of interest of the settle- 
ments scattered along the Atlantic coast; but a remem- 
brance of the New England confederation could not have 
died out during these eighty years, and it doubtless aided 
in the work of forming a perpetual union/ 

In these years the people of Massachusetts had trouble 
with the Quakers. Members of this sect were, as a rule, 
men and women of great purity and sweetness 
onheXakers. ^^ character, but their doctrines were pecul- 
iarly obnoxious to the Puritans; and when 
some of them came to New England and dared to call the 
people of Boston to repentance, they were met with perse- 
cution. At first the unwelcome intruders were banished ; 
but they boldly returned, and were hanged on Boston Com- 

* " In the federation of the New England colonies we see the germ 
and the foreshadowing of the united republics." (Doyle, English in 
America [Puritan Cols.], vol. i, p. i.) 



92 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

mon. Four were thus punished. The public sentiment 
of Massachusetts, however, revolted at the cruelty, and the 
law imposing the death penalty was modified. For some 
years after this the Quakers were imprisoned, or whipped 
out of the colonies at the cart's tail ; but before long these 
punishments also ceased.* A freer and nobler sentiment 
slowly grew up in ]S"ew England. Men came to see at length 
the folly and the sinfulness of coercion and persecution in 
matters of religion. 

From the outbreak of the civil war in England (1642) 
until the restoration of the Stuarts (1660) New England 
was allowed to govern itself ; but Charles II 
charters ^^^ hardly seated on his throne before he 

turned his attention to America. New Haven 
had received and sheltered two of the fugitive judges of 
the court that had condemned his royal father to death. 
Spite of its protestations, it was now annexed to Connecti- 
cut. The latter colony was given a liberal charter, which 
became very dear to the people. Ehode Island, too, re- 
ceived a new charter. It is an interesting fact that Charles 
II, who in England gave no sign of loving free government, 
should have granted these two charters, so liberal and good 
that the people cherished them and kept them as their fun- 
damental constitutions well doAvn into the nineteenth cen- 
tury, f The charter and the independence of Massachusetts 
were threatened at the time, for the king looked upon the 
colony with suspicion ; but this danger was for the time 
being avoided. 

Since the time of the Pequot outbreak there had been 

* See Fiske, Beginnings of New England, pp. 180, 181. In Hart, 
American History, etc., vol. i, p. 479, will be found The Justification of 
Mary Dyer, one of the Quakers that was hanged ; also the trial of Win- 
lock Christison, p. 481. Christison was condemned to death, but public 
sentiment prevented the execution. 

\ The charter of Rhode Island (1G63) continued to be the Constitu- 
tion of the State until 1843. Connecticut preserved hers until 1818. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 



93 




New ENC4LAND, 1650. 

no serious trouble with the Indians. There came to be a 
sense of security even in the frontier towns. But this feel- 
ing was dispelled by the outbreak of war in the 
War^ i675-'76. summer of 1675. The red men, led by Philip, 
an able chieftain, attacked the outlying set- 
tlements and inflicted much loss and suffering upon the 
settlers. The next summer Philip was killed, and the war 
soon ended. And yet from this time on the frontier settle 
ments were at no time quite secure. For fifty years and 
more the Indians, now in alliance with the French at the 
north, continued to be a constant menace. Years might go 
by without an outbreak, but at some unexpected moment 
an outlying settlement would be suddenly attacked, men 
would be shot at their work, women and children murdered. 
8 



94: HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

The hardy New Englanders pushed the frontier back from 
the sea in the face of this ever-present danger. 

New dangers now threatened the people of the northern 
colonies. Charles II was not so headstrong and obstinate 

as his father, but he was no friend of free gov- 
Character of ernmcnt, and he detested a Puritan. Without 

virtue himself, given over to corruption and 
vice, he looked upon goodness as merely the trick of a 
hypocrite, by which only a fool could be cheated. He was 
too wise to set himself deliberately against his Parliament 
or to endanger his own head, and he was determined, as he 
said, " not to go on his travels again " ; but he did " not 
think he was a king so long as a company of fellows were 
looking into his actions and examining his ministers as 
well as his accounts." He was quite ready to take a hand 
in demolishing free government in Massachusetts, where he 
could act more tyrannically than he dared at home. But he 
was playing a dangerous game. The spirit of liberty was 
not dead among Englishmen on either side of the ocean. 
Many persons in England, as Pepys said, had begun before 
this time to " reflect upon Oliver and commend him, what 
brave things he did, and make all the neighbor princes fear 
him." * 

One of the first steps against Massachusetts was to take 
New Hampshire from her and make it a royal province, the 

first in New England. Moreover, the old char- 

Massachusetts ^g^, ^f Massachusetts was annulled, the charter 
attacked. ' 

under which this great Puritan commonwealth 

had grown and prospered and become the mother of colo- 
nies. Before Charles could carry out his plans to the full 
he died, and was succeeded by his brother James. It is said 
of Charles that he never spoke a foolish word or did a wise 
thing ; but James, utterly lacking in tact and brightness, 
was incapable alike of wise speech or sensible action. He 

* Read Green, Short History of England, chap, ix, see. iii. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 95 

sent to N"ew England Sir Edmund Andros, a rough, coarse 
soldier wlio, though not personally dissolute or addicted to 
political corruption, was a fit instrument of tyranny. He 
was empowered to bring the Various New England colonies 
under his rule. All political power was taken from the 
people and vested in the hands of this arrogant governor 
and a council. He could make laws and levy taxes, and 
had, indeed, full right to disregard in every respect those 
fundamental principles and practices of freedom and self- 
government which had become dear to the people and part 
of their very life. " All those devices of tyranny which Eng- 
lishmen had resisted, even where they were rare and excep- 
tional, were now adopted as part of the regular machinery 
of government." * He carried out his instructions with 
soldierly thoroughness. The General Court was abolished. 
The town meetings were limited to one a year. Place 
hunters and greedy officials came to prey upon the people. 

Andros next brought Rhode Island and Connecticut 

under his sway, and then New York and New Jersey. But 

his power did not last lon^. The people of 

The revolution, t^ f t . , ^ ^ .,i ^t .,.^ ^ , 

England might put up with the smiling, pleas- 
ure-loving tyrant Charles, but they soon grew weary of his 
tactless, stubborn brother James. In 1688 they deposed 
him, and William and Mary took the throne. Early in the 
next year news of this glorious fact reached New England. 
The people rejoiced ; militia poured into Boston from the 
surrounding country; Andros and his agents 
overthrown ^^ tjTTanny wcre seized and thrown into prison, f 
Liberty and self-government were not yet gone 
from New England. 

William III was no tyrant, and he had a plentiful fund 
of common sense. He did not believe, however, in letting 
the colonies go their own way without guidance or control. 

* Doyle, The English in America (The Puritan Colonies), vol. ii, p. 
305. 

f Read the account in Hart, American History, etc., vol. i, p. 463. 



96 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION". 

Rhode Island and Connecticut were allowed to go on under 
their old charters, but Massachusetts was given a new one 
(1691). It provided for the appointment of a 
new c ar er. g^y^pj^Qj.^ lieutenant governor, and secretary by 
the crown ; the assistants, or councilors, and the representa- 
tives constituted with the governor the General Court. The 
representatives were to be elected by the towns ; but the 
assistants and representatives together chose each year the 
assistants for the ensuing term. The religious qualifica- 
tion for voting was abolished. Plymouth was added to 
Massachusetts. Maine and Acadia also belonged to her. 
Thus the colony held the coast, with the exception of the 
territory of New Hampshire, from Martha's Vineyard to 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

The tyranny of Andros doubtless taught its lesson to 
the New Englanders. Seventy-five years later men re- 
membered this attack upon their liberties. 
wann^°^^°^ Had the plans of James worked smoothly at 
home, the boasted freedom of England would 
have disappeared. Had his plans been carried out in Amer- 
ica, free colonial life would have been crushed out. But 
the revolution of 1688 saved the liberties of England and 
America, and in the next century the colonies strengthened 
their hold upon principles of self-government. When, 
under another king, George III, the Parliament seemed to 
have forgotten the fundamental teachings of the seven- 
teenth century and their own revolution, the American 
people, true to the established doctrines of English liberty, 
resisted encroachments on their rights. 

References. 
Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 112-177; Fisher, 
The Colonial Era, pp. 82-176; Eggleston, The Beginners of a Nation, 
pp. 98-220, 266-346. Longer accounts : Fiske, Beginnings of New 
England ; Bancroft, History, Volume I, pp. 177-407, 584-589, also 
Volume II, pp. 47-69; Tyler, England in America, Chapters VII- 
XIX; Andrews, Colonial Self-government, Chapters XVI-XVIH. 



CHAPTER IV. 
The Middle Colonies— 1609-1700. 

NEW YORK. 

In the seventeenth century Holland was one of the 
most prosperous and progressive countries of Europe. 
While Elizabeth was on the throne of England 
this sturdy little Netherland nation was en- 
gaged in a long fierce fight against the tyranny of Spain — a 
fight full of deeds of daring and of bravery beyond com- 
pare. It came out of this conflict a self-reliant people — 
stronger, more vigorous than ever before — while the power 
of Spain, the mighty oppressor, was checked. Now, just as 
England was getting ready to colonize and to build up her 
great states in the New World, brave little Holland was a 
serious rival. The Dutch were the carriers of Europe. In 
the middle of the seventeenth century they are said to have 
had half the carrying trade of the Continent. Amsterdam 
was a great mart of trade. It was to be expected that 
when the sails of Holland were on every sea there would be 
some attempt to secure a hold upon America. 

The Dutch merchants were interested in commerce with 
the East Indies, and Henry Hudson, an English mariner 
in the employ of a Dutch company, sought to 
solve the old problem of finding a shorter route 
to the silks and spices of the East. Baffled in an effort to 
discover a passage to the northeast — north of Europe — he 
turned westward to seek a way through or north of America. 
He was moved to this, it is said, " by some letters and maps 

97 



98 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

which his friend Captain Smith had sent him from Vir- 
ginia." In August, 1609, he, with his ship, the Half Moon, 
sailed into Delaware Bay, and a month later entered the 
noble river that was to bear his name. He sailed north as 
far, perhaps, as the present site of Albany. He found no 
route to India, but was deeply impressed with the beauties 
of the country, and returned to Holland to recount his 
travels and to report that from the natives, who inhabited 
the new-found land, furs could be had almost* for the ask- 
ing — for baubles and trinkets and gewgaws. 

Thus Hudson opened up to the Dutch a new trade, and 
the merchants of Amsterdam were not slow in taking ad- 
vantage of it. Traders soon found their way 
The West India ^.^ ^^^ banks of the new river to traffic with 
the natives. Trading stations were founded. 
Finally a company was organized and granted immense 
power (1621). It was given supreme dominion on the 
whole coast of America, the right to employ soldiers in the 
name of the States-General of Holland, to make treaties, 
and to maintain courts. To this West India Company Hol- 
land transferred her prospects in the New World. A thor- 
oughly successful colony could not arise under the direc- 
cion of a company whose only end was gain. 

The first colony under the new company was sent over 
in 1623. The most important settlement was at Fort 
Orange, where Albany now stands. The set- 
New Nether- ^^^^.g ^^^.^ distributed here and there about the 
country, some going to Delaware Eiver, others 
to the Connecticut, while some settled on Manhattan and 
on Long Island. The Dutch claimed all the territory as 
" New Netherlands " from the Delaware to the Connecticut, 
including the navigation of these rivers. Had they con- 
centrated their forces and sought to secure the mouth of 
the Hudson and the immediate neighborhood, they might 
have been more successful. 

The company next took steps to establish a semi-feudal 



NOVABELGICA 

Quebtcq 







Van dkr Donok's Map op New Netherlands, 1656. 



100 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

class in the new land. Men of wealth were induced to 
take up landed estates. Each person establishing a colony 
of fifty persons over fifteen years of age was 
e pa roons. e^^jtled to become the owner and ruler of a 
strip of country on the banks of some river sixteen miles 
in width, or eight miles where both banks were occu- 
pied, and stretching back from the river indefinitely. 
This was a principality of no mean dimensions, and several 
men at once took advantage of this opportunity to become 
petty monarchs. They were known as " patroons," or pa- 
trons. Although this plan had the immediate effect of 
bringing in new settlers, it was, on the whole, not well 
adapted to promote the healthful growth of a free com- 
monwealth. The patroons could not be expected to be 
zealous for the growth of political equality or for the gen- 
eral development of the colony. 

There is little to interest us in the history of this Dutch 
province after it was fairly settled. There were some seri- 
ous troubles with the Algonquin Indians, but 
tonteT^ the friendship of the Troquois was secured 
by careful and considerate treatment. With 
them the Dutch carried on considerable traffic, but the 
progress of the colony was slow. The company, anxious to 
make an immediate profit from its possessions, took little 
interest, in building up a commonwealth. There is doubt- 
less much truth in the complaints of those in the colony 
who were struggling for more self-government and a more 
liberal administration. " It seems," they said, " as if from 
the first the company had sought to stock this land with 
their own employes, which was a great mistake, for when 
their time was out they returned home, taking nothing 
with them, except a little in their purses and a bad name 
for the country. . . . The directors here, though far from 
their masters, were close by their profit. . . . They have 
also conducted themselves just as if they were the sov- 
ereigns of the country. In our opinion, this country will 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1609-1700. 



101 




EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS 1650 

BA&ED ON EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENT. 

[ 1 ENGLISH POSSESSIONS CU DUTCH POSSESSIONS 

I I FRENCH " CD SWEDISH " 

cm SPANISH " 



^ 



never flourish under the government of the Honorable 

Company." 

Gustavus Adolphus, the great King of Sweden, one of 

the great generals of history, was interested in founding a 
colony in America. He took part in forming 
a company, but his death prevented his plan 

from being carried out for some years. Queen Christina 

and Oxenstiern, the famous minister of Adolphus, entered 



New Sweden. 



102 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

anew upon tlie enterprise. An expedition was sent out in 
1638, and a fort, called Fort Christina, was established on 
the Delaware Eiver where Wilmington now stands.* The 
country was called New Sweden. This ground was claimed 
by the Dutch, and of course dissensions ensued. In 1655, 
after some years of wrangling. Fort Christina passed into 
the hands of the Dutch, and New Sweden disappeared. 

In the seventeenth century Holland and England were 
strong commercial rivals. The New Englanders had already 
NewNetherland engaged in Sundry controversies with their 
becomes neighbor over the control of the Connecticut. 

New York. g^^^ ^f^^^ ^j^^ accession of Charles II it was 

determined to seize the Dutch possessions, and in 1664 an 
English fleet appeared before Fort Amsterdam. The place 
was in no condition for defense. Stuyvesant, the Director 
General, fumed and strutted, and swore he would rather be 
carried to his grave than surrender; but the frightened 
townspeople besought him to yield, and the white flag was 
soon run up. Dutch rule in America was over. The Eng- 
lish now held possession of the whole Atlantic coast north 
of the Spanish Floridas and south of the French claims in 
Acadia. Ten years later (1673-'74) Holland secured pos- 
session of her old colony for a time, but at the end of the 
war between the two countries England gained it again. 
Charles II gave the newly acquired territory to his brother 
James, the Duke of York, and it was rechristened New 
York. When James became king, in 1685, the colony be- 
came a royal colony. 

Although Dutch customs and habits were not rudely 

overturned by the conquerors of the new province, the 

English accession brought better government. 

°^^ , Forms of local government were introduced at 

government. ^ 

once ; the so-called " Duke's laws " were issued 
providing for toTVTi meetings for the election of town offi- 

* The Dutch had, as early as 1623, founded Fort Nassau, just below 
the site of Philadelphia. 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1609-1700. 



103 



The revolution. 




cers. In the course of the next few years the system devel- 
oped. The towns were represented in a board of county 
supervisors, w^hose chief 
duty it was to apportion 
taxes and to look after the 
general financial needs of 
the county. Not till 1G83 
did New York have an 
assembly like the other 
colonies. 

King James cherished 
the hope of bringing all 
the northern colonies un- 
der one royal governor. 
Andros, it will be remem- 
bered, had 

come to New ^ ^ , 

England to be general gov- ^~^^&Y w^^T^iP?^ 

ernor, and in 1688 he was ■ ^ ^ 

put in charge of New York and New Jersey as well. He had 
his seat of government in Boston, but was represented in 
New York by a deputy. The revolution in England made 
an end of James's tyranny there, and as soon as the people 
of New York heard of this event they rose, drove out their 
royal deputy, and proclaimed William as their new sover- 
eign. This revolt was headed by an impetuous German by 
the name of Jacob Leisler, who, once in the 
lead, wished to remain there, and assumed the 
powers of government, which he wielded in arbitrary and 
reckless fashion. When the new governor appointed by the 
king came to take possession, Leisler hesitated to surrender 
the colony. This he was soon forced to do, however, and a 
short time after he was hanged for treason, the order for 
his execution, it is said, being signed by the governor while 
under the influence of drink. It is a curious fact that 
Leisler was instrumental in summoning the first general 



Leisler. 



104 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

colonial Congress, which met in Albany in 1690. Its pur- 
pose was to consider means of mutual protection against 
the French and Indians. 

At the end of the seventeenth century New York was a 
strong and successful colony, although her population was 

as yet not large — perhaps twenty-five thousand 
the*colony.°^ inhabitants, including negro slaves. Trade and 

agriculture both flourished. The Dutch were 
the largest landowners, and they still retained their own 
dress and followed their own customs without much refer- 
ence to the invading Englishman. The steady conservative 
spirit of the Hollander doubtless continued to influence the 
life of New York for many decades ; but even at this early 
day men of many nations had come hither. It had become 
" a community of many tongues, of many customs, of many 
faiths." Partly because of this diversity of population the 
colony did not have so marked an influence in our colonial 
history or play so conspicuous a part in the development of 
our political ideals as did the more homogeneous colonies of 
the south or of New England. 

References. 

Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 196-210; Fisher, 
The Colonial Era, Chapter IX; Lodge, Short History, pp. 285-302. 
Longer accounts : Bancroft, History, Volume I, pp. 475-527, 577-582; 
Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume I, pp. 339-369, 429-449 ; 
Tuckerman, Peter Stuyvesant; Roberts, New York, pp. 1-185 ; Roose- 
velt, New York; M. W. Goodman, A. C. Royce, R. Putnam, Historic 
New York, pp. 1-191 ; Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Cols., Volume I. 

NEW JERSEY— 1664-1700. 

What is now the State of New Jersey was part of the 
territory claimed by the Dutch under the name of New 
Netherlands. Before the English seized the country some- 
thing had been done to settle this part, although it had not 
developed, as might have been expected, in the fifty years 
of Dutch occupancy. The Duke of York, as proprietor of , 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1G09-1700. 105 

the territory newly acquired, ceded (1664) this southern 
portion, lying between the Delaware River and the sea, to 

Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, 
"^ttl^m^nt ^^^^ ^^^ province was named New Csesaria or 

New Jersey, in honor of Carteret, who as gov- 
ernor of the island of Jersey had heroically defended it 
against the Parliamentarians during the great rebellion. 
The proprietors at once issued a document known as " the 
Concessions," which outlined a form of government and laid 
down various rules for the administration of the colony. 
This formed practically the first Constitution of New Jersey, 
and as it was broad and liberal in its terms it was cherished 
by the people as a charter of liberties. There were some 
settlers already in the province who had come in under the 
Dutch rule. In 1665 Philip Carteret, a nephew of the pro- 
prietor, came out as governor, bringing with him a small 
body of Englishmen. The settlement thus founded was 
given the name of Elizabeth, in honor of Lady Carteret. 
Other settlements were made soon after this, emigrants 
from the other colonies, especially from New England, 
coming in to take advantage of the privileges offered by 
the new proprietors. No provision was made at first for a 

legislative body, inasmuch as the " Conces- 
y. gJQj^g ?? proved sufficient for the simple needs of 
the young colony. But in 1668 an assembly was summoned, 
and the legislative history of New Jersey was begun. 

Berkeley finally became weary of the bickerings and dis- 
putes and sold his share to some Quakers, and this interest 

finally passed into the hands of William Penn 
divid d ^ and a few of his associates. About this time 

(1674) the colony was divided into two parts, 
Carteret obtaining East Jersey. The Quakers, to whom fell 
the western portion, now entered upon the task of legisla- 
tion and control. Outcasts and outlaws in other organized 
states, how would they legislate when the power and 
responsibility came into their hands ? Their first acts were 



106 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



marked by a generous and kindly spirit, and breathed a 
true democracy. " We lay," they said, " a foundation for 
after ages to understand their liberty as Chris- 
in West New tians and as men, that they may not be brought 
Jersey. jj^^q bondage but by their own consent ; for we 

put the power in the people." Many Quakers, glad to find 
a refuge from oppression, now made their way to the new 
colony. 

Shortly after this George Carteret died, and his rights 
in East Jersey were sold to Penn and twenty-fchree asso- 
ciates. These associates were not all Quakers ; 
Jersey there were among them Presbyterians from 

Scotland, dissenters, and Catholics. Within a 
few years many Scotch came over, and thus began the 
strong Scotch and Presbyterian element of New Jersey. 
In the meantime there had been great trouble with An- 

dros, the duke's governor 
in New York, who set up 
certain claims of right in 
East Jersey, and could 
not refrain from annoy- 
ing interference in the 
colony. After a time 
the rights of the proprie- 
tors were acquired by 
the crown (1702), and 
the two Jerseys united 
into one became a royal 
colony. 

The history of New 
Jersey in these early 
days can scarcely be 
called interesting. There 
is a certain lack of unity 
and purpose in the col- 
ony ; it was not a great 




THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1G09-1700. 107 

experiment in religion and politics like Kew England, nor 
bad it the picturesque qualities of the southern colonies. 

Despite legislative wranglings and proprietary 
Character of disputes, the colouy prospered steadily and 

soberly, growing into a substantial common- 
wealth. Farming was almost tlie sole occupation. There 
was no effort to build up diversified interests, and all 
through the next century the colony was commercially 
dependent on New York or on the more prosperous and 
vigorous colony which grew up on its western border. 

References. 

Short account : Tliwaites, The Colonies, pp. 210-215 ; Fisher, 
The Colonial Era, Chapter X ; Lodge, Short History, pp. 263-2GT ; 
Bancroft, History, Volume I, pp. 520-523 and 54G-551, also Yolunie 
n, pp. 31-33 ; Hildreth, History, Volume H, pp. 51-61 and 210-218 ; 
Bryant and Gay, Popuhir History, Volume II, pp. 472-480. 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE— 1G81-1 700. 

We have already mentioned the Friends, or Quakers, 
some of whom early came into various colonies, and were 
there treated with great harshness. This sect 
Quakers m ^^g ^^^ important element in English coloniza- 
tion. Three of the colonies, New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, and Delaware, were built up largely under their 
guidance and influence. It thus happened that the very 
central portion of the English domain in America felt the 
impress of the beliefs and ideals of these people. It is 
worth while, therefore, to examine the beginnings of the 
sect and to notice the characteristics of its faith ; for, as 
these people controlled for many years so much territory, 
and were not few in numbers, it is probable that their be- 
liefs and modes of thought have been wrought in part into 
the national character. These three Quaker colonies were 
directly influenced by the ideals of the sect. 

The religion of the Society of Friends had its beginnings 



108 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATlOxN. 

in the mind of George Fox, the son of an English weaver. 
He had been placed as apprentice with a shoemaker, but 
his master was also engaged in keeping sheep, 
eorge ox. ^^^ George, during part of his apprenticeship, 
was given the task of watching the flocks, a business well 
suited to his quiet spirit. He became deeply distressed 
for the safety of his soul. These were the tumultuous years 
of the great rebellion, and the country was filled with clam- 
oring sects, each claiming to have the true light and to be 
the only way. But from none of the priests or preachers 
could he find help. Some ridiculed, some abused him ; none 
were able to bring light to the darkened soul of the poor 
shoemaker's apprentice. He seems to have been woefully 
cast down, in a sort of ecstasy of misery, when the truth 
began to dawn upon him that the blind could not lead the 
blind, that " being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not 
enough to qualify men to be ministers of Christ," that all 
the learning of the universities could not lead a man to 
heaven. " Thus he grew to a knowledge of divine things, 
without the help of any man, book, or writing," and there 
shone as into his very inmost soul the strong truth that 
there is a living God. He came to believe that each person 
is given light from on high, that every one is called upon to 
follow the guidance of that "inner light." These words 
contain the Quaker's creed. " The Quaker," says Bancroft, 
" has but one word, the inner light, the voice of God in 
the soul. That light is a reality, and therefore in its free- 
dom the highest revelation of truth ; . .it shines in every 
man's breast, and therefore joins the whole human race in 
the unity of equal rights." * 

Fox was moved to preach, and soon made many con- 
verts. Those who embraced his doctrines became in turn 
imbued with the desire to win men to repentance. Messen- 
gers of the new faith wandered over Europe, calling upon 

* Bancroft, History, vol. i, p. 535. 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1609-1700. 109 

all to be guided by the light in their own souls. Fox was 
ridiculed, beaten, thrust into prison, but his courage waxed 
ever stronger, and his followers rapidly in- 
^i^^ff^T*^ °^t creased. Everywhere the Quakers were perse- 
cuted, but they persisted in the faith. The 
courage and devotion of the sect is well illustrated by the 
story that, when Fox was in Lanceston jail, one of his 
people called upon Cromwell and asked to be imprisoned 
in his stead. " Which of you," said Cromwell, turning to 
his council, " would do as much for me if I were in the 
same condition ? " 

Quakerism cherished the essence of democracy, because 

one of its necessary beliefs was that each man was the equal 

of every other. Certain manners and habits 

They teach the emphasized this kernel of their creed. They 

equality of men, ^ . , *' 

believed there should be no distinctions in dress, 
no difference in title, no unnecessary elaboration in speech. 
The hat was to be kept on the head before the most august 
tribunal, because to stand uncovered savored of the homage 
dae to God alone. Simple language with "thee and thou" 
was addressed to all alike, and the unadorned coat gave 
no chance for superiority in apparel. " My Lord Peter 
and My Lord Paul are not to be found in the Bible ; My 
Lord Solon or Lord Scipio is not to be read in Greek or 
Latin stories." 

Among the followers of Fox was one man who was a far 
greater soul than the founder of his faith. William Penn 
may justly be called one of the ffreat men of 
our history. His father was Admiral Penn, a 
man of prominence and position in England who had won 
distinction by the capture of Jamaica and stood in special 
favor at court because he had helped to reinstate the 
Stuarts. The son, while a student at Oxford, was much af- 
fected by the teachings of the Quakers. Refusing to attend 
the religious services of the university, he was expelled and 
sent home in disgrace. He now spent some time on the 
9 



110 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Continent, especially in Paris, and the gayeties of life seem 
for a time to have banished all serious inclination to re- 
ligion from his mind. He 
returned to England in 1664, 
and thence went to Ireland, 
where he came under the in- 
fluence again of the Quaker 
preacher who had won such 
a hold upon him in his stu- 
dent days. He was then 
fully converted to the new 
faith. This was a great 
event for Quakerism, because 
converts among the wealthy 
and influential had been 
very few, and because Penn 
was in himself a man of rare 
vigor, sweetness, and ability. 
In spite of his social posi- 
tion and the sweetness of his 
character, he was many times in prison ; and these rough 
experiences had doubtless their effect in broadening his 
sympathies with the poor and the oppressed.* Rude 
schools as they were, the Old Bailey and the Tower may 
have given him broader views of life and led him to see with 
greater clearness the needs of men and the crime and 
follies of the state. 

In 1670 his father died, leaving him wealthy. 
He inherited claims on the Government to a 
large amount. The frivolous Charles II had 
no zeal for paying debts in cash, and so in 1681 Penn re- 
ceived in satisfaction of his claim a vast estate stretching 

* " In such rough schools of statesmanship as the Old Bailey, New- 
gate, and the Tower he imbibed broad and liberal views of what was 
necessary for the welfare of mankind." (Winsor, Narrative and Critical 
History of America, vol. iii, p. 475.) 




He acquires 
Pennsylvania 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1609-1700. m 

westward from the Delaware Eiver through five degrees of 
longitude.* The king gave the name Pennsylvania to the 
province in honor of Penn's father. 

Here Penn intended to establish a free commonwealth. 
" And because," he said, " I have been somewhat exercised 
at times about the nature and end of govern- 
is purpose. j^ent among men, it is reasonable to expect 
that I should endeavor to establish a just and righteous one 
in this province. . . . For the nations want a precedent." 
And again, he wrote to a friend : " For the matter of lib- 
erty and privilege, I propose that which is extraordinary, 
and to leave myself and successors no power of doing mis- 
chief — that the will of one man may not hinder the good 
of an whole country." The same broad generosity is shown 
in the letter which he now issued to the people who were 
already within the limits of his grant. " You shall be gov- 
erned," he promised, " by laws of your own making, and 
live a free and, if you will, a sober and industrious people." 
Emigrants made their way at once to Pennsylvania, and 
in 1682 Penn himself set out for his new province. A city 
was marked out on the Schuylkill and named 
Sbn^' °^ Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Penn 
had already drawn up a " Frame of Govern- 
ment " for his colony — a liberal instrument full of the true 
spirit of democracy and worthy of its author. This was 
afterward altered in parts, but its main princi- 
^h"!^'^ h P^®^ remained. He believed in free govern- 

ment, but not in the power of form or in the 
might of maxim. " Any government," he asserted, " is free 
to the people under it (whatever be its frame) where the 

* The boundaries of Pennsylvania, as of most of the colonies, were 
later subject to dispute. The northern line had to be agreed upon with 
New York. Connecticut also claimed the northern portion, and this 
gave rise to serious disputes in later years. See Fiske, The Critical Pe- 
riod of American History, pp. 148-150 ; McMaster, History of the 
People of the United States, vol. i, pp. 210-216. 



Tlie FRAME of t!ic 

GOVERNMENT 

OF THE 

^^oljinte of ^etttttfltjania 
AMERICA^ 

Together with certain 

LAWS 

Agreed upon in England 

BY THE 

GOVERNOUR 

AND 

Di^-ers F R E E - M E N of the aforefaid 
PROVINCE. 

To be further E-x plained and Confirmed there by the firll 

Tro%in(ial CflM/Jc»7and C/eneral Jjfemblj thsLt (hall 

be held, if they fee meet. 



Pf i.Kcd in the Year M DC LXXXII,^ 



* Title-page of the Frame of Government. It provided for a council 
and an assembly, to be elected by the freemen, and one third of the 
members of the council to retire annually. Committees were also pro- 
vided for. It was soon changed in part ; but these provisions are note- 
worthy. 



'IHE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1609-1700. 113 

laws rule and the people are a party to those laws ; and 
more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, or confusion. . . . 
Liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience with- 
out liberty is slavery." Never has the philosophy of gov- 
ernment been more exactly stated. 

Pennsylvania, like Maryland, and like other colonies 
founded after 1660, was a proprietary colony. Penn was 
the owner of the soil ; from him the settlers obtained the 
right to occupy the land and build their houses ; to him 
they paid their rent. He appointed the governor to act as 
his representative in his absence, and provided for a legisla- 
tive assembly. Penn was not granted such full and absolute 
powers as were bestowed upon Lord Baltimore. Doubtless 
he did not wish them. The inhabitants of his province 
could appeal to the king and the acts of the General Assem- 
bly must be presented to him in council for ratification or 
rejection. 

In 1682 Penn became possessed of New Castle and the 
territory lying to the south of it. This land he acquired 
from the Duke of York. It came to be called 
the " Territories," while Pennsylvania was 
known as the " Province." For some time these two com- 
munities were enrolled under one government, but for 
some reason each was jealous and suspicious of the other; 
disputes arose, and peace was finally secured by making 
the Territories into the separate colony of Delaware 
(1703). 

Pennsylvania grew rapidly into a flourishing and well- 
peopled colony. Before the end of the century there were 
not less than twenty thousand persons within 
cotr*''"^*^^ the limits of Penn's grant, and Philadelphia 
was already a busy and prosperous town. The 
settlers were by no means all Quakers ; there were Swedes 
and Dutchmen and Germans as well. At a later day many 
Scotch Irish made their way thither. The Quaker faith, 
however, shaped the character of the colony ; toleration 



114 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

was freely accorded to all religions and modes of worship, 
for toleration was a logical result of the faith of the Friend. 
Moreover, the Quakers believed that each man was enlight- 
ened and guided from on high ; they believed in the equal- 
ity of men ; and under such influences Pennsylvania be- 
came in some ways the truest example of a thoroughly 
democratic commonwealth. 

One might expect that, when Penn had freely given 
the colony so much, there would be little trouble in govern- 
ing it and no political unrest. But such was not 
PoUtical ^j^g ^^gg^ rj^j^g people had their lonffinars and am- 

QlsputeBi sr r n n 

bitions, and entered erelong lustily into political 
controversy. These difficulties were at times a great source 
of annoyance to Penn. " For the love of God, me, and the 
poor country," he wrote at one time, " be not so government- 
ish, so noisy and open in your dissatisfactions." These dis- 
satisfactions were bound to come, and it was as well they 
did, perhaps, since men are versed in the art of politics and 
self-government not by quiet contentment, but by zealous 
strivings.* 

A part of Penn's wisdom and brotherly love was shown 
in his treatment of the Indians. To his first commissioners 

in this new province he wrote : " Be tender of 
Manf*^*^' offending the Indians. . . . Make a friendship 

and league with them. Be grave ; they love not 
to be smiled upon." He himself, after his arrival in Amer- 
ica, purchased land of the Indians and entered into " great 
promises of friendship." At a later day he wrote : " We 
leave not the least indignity to them unrebukt nor wrong 
unsatisfied. Justice gains and awes them." So Pennsyl- 
vania was long free from Indian dangers. Not till the later 
troubles with France began, was the progress of the colony 
seriously threatened. 



* Penn was for a time (1692-94) deprived of his province by the 
authorities in England, but it was returned to him again. 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1609-1700. 



115 



A book printed in England at the end of the seventeenth 
century says that Philadelphia contained many stately houses 
of brick and " several fine squares and courts." 
rospeny. Between the principal towns the "watermen 
constantly ply their wherries." " There are no beggars to 
be seen, nor, indeed, have any the least temptation to take 
up that scandalous life." 

References. 

Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 307-217; Fisher, The Colonial Era, 
pp. 199-206; Lodge, Short History, pp. 205-226; Winsor, Narrative 
and Critical History, Volume III, Chapter XII; Bancroft, History, 
Volume I, pp. 528-573, Volume II, pp. 62-75 ; Bryant and Gay, Pop- 
ular History, Volume II, pp. 165-178, 481-498; Stoughton, William 
Penn, The Founder of Pennsylvania; Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colo- 
nies, Volume II, Chapters XII, XVI, XVII ; Andrews, Colonial Self- 
government, Chapters XI-XII. 




House in Philadelphia in which Penn lived— 1699-1701. 



CHAPTER V. 
History of the Colonies in the Eighteenth Century. 

It will be remembered that by the decree of the Pope 

and by an agreement between Spain and Portugal these 

two countries claimed title to the heathen 

Right of world. Spain asserted that she owned the 

discovery. ^ 

whole of North America and all of South 

America lying west of the line agreed upon. Before the 
beginning of the eighteenth century, however, she had been 
forced to give up her excessive demands and to yield to 
other countries some title and dominion. By this time 
there had developed a doctrine known as the right of dis- 
covery. That doctrine included the following proposi- 
tions : 

1. The Christian nation that discovers a heathen land 
owns it to the exclusion of all other Christian nations. 2. 
This nation must complete its title within a reasonable 
time by occupying and using this land. 3. The native in- 
habitants are the occupants of the land only.* 

At the beginning of the eighteenth century the English 
dominion stretched from east of the Kennebec to the Sa- 
vannah ; its western border was the Allegheny 
Claims of ransre. As yet no adventurous pioneer had 

three nations. ^ :' . ^ 

dared to make a settlement m the great valley 
beyond the mountains. On the northeast the claims of 
England extended into the territory which France asserted 

* See Hinsdale, How to Study and Teach History, pp. 204, 205. The 
propositions here given are in the words of Professor Hinsdale. 
116 



THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. HY 

was hers, and on the south Spain claimed title to all the 
territory at least as far north as the Savannah, while the 
English claimed southward to the St. John's. AYe shall see 
how the English established a colony in the region south 
of the Savannah (1733), and how through the efforts of 
Oglethorpe the land was held for England. By the middle 
of the century Spain's possessions in the eastern part of 
North America were confined to Florida alone. 

With France, however, England had still to wage a 
mighty struggle. Until near the beginning of the eight- 
eenth century there had been no good reason 
Er^nd^^ for conflict between the two nations, for the 
continent was large enough for the settlements 
of both countries, and the colonists of the one did not come 
into contact with those of the other. But, as the years 
went by, the rivalry grew more and more intensely bitter, 
and all questions of colonial policy and growth were more 
or less influenced by this international jealousy and hatred. 
War succeeded war, and in the intervals of peace each na- 
tion narrowly watched the other. These wars were partly 
caused by religious differences and by the political problems 
of Europe ; but they were caused also by the fact that both 
the nations were seeking to secure great possessions in 
America. France and England were natural rivals because 
of their colonial ambitions. 

From whatever point of view one studies the colonial 

history of the eighteenth century it must needs have these 

intercolonial wars and this intercolonial rivalry 

Intercolonial ^g ^ background. We must remember that 
wars. ° 

New England grew and prospered and reached 

out for more territory to be filled with thriving towns, while 
the French and their Indian allies were lurking on her bor- 
ders and watching her progress with malice in their hearts. 
We must remember that in some of the colonies disputes 
arose between the governor and the popular assembly over 
the question of supply or preparation for war, and that 



118 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

each dispute gave to the colonists practice in declaring 
their rights and privileges. We must remember, too, that 
the colonies felt their dependence on England, because of 
the presence of an enemy on their frontier. 

During the first half of the century the political history 
of each colony is very similar to that of every other. It is 
p ... , a story of petty quarrels between the assembly 

character of and the governor, of incessant disputes over 
these years. some matter apparently trivial, but yet involv- 
ing, as the colonists thought, some question of principle or 
some real substantial right. The hapless governor was often 
between two fires. On the one side were the stubborn colo- 
nists absolutely refusing concession and demanding new 
privileges ; on the other side he had clear instructions from 
the proprietors or royal authority directing him not to 
grant what the colonists wished. But these quarrels and 
disputes were evidences of a persistent spirit of self-govern- 
ment. The people were thus trained in political methods 
and taught to understand and appreciate constitutional and 
legal principles. For these contests did not consist of vio- 
lent uprisings ; they were mere wordy disputes carried on 
with the formalities of legal language and with the studied 
decorum of debate. 

It is important to notice that the development of the 

American colonists through this period followed the lines 

already marked out by the progress of the 
Self-taxation I , , , rm t i i t 

mother country. The assembly or lower house 

of the colonial legislature strove to obtain full control over 

the purse. When this hold was secured, or nearly so, it 

demanded redress of grievances and new privileges on pain 

of a refusal of supply. It said to the governor, " Cease this 

or that practice, or else we will cease to pay your salary." 

Thus the right of self-taxation became the basis of many 

other rights, and was looked upon by the colonists as the 

most fundamental of them all. Edmund Burke, the great 

English orator and statesman, in his Speech on Concilia- 



THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 119 

tion with America, one of the most remarkable speeches 
ever delivered, thus speaks of this love of the colonists for 
the principle of self-taxation, a principle which the experi- 
ences of the whole eighteenth century strongly confirmed : 
" The people of the colonies are descendants of English- 
men. . . . The colonies draw from you, as with their life 
blood, these ideas and principles. Their love of liberty, as 
with you, fixed and attached on this specific point of tax- 
ing. Liberty might be safe or might be endangered in 
twenty other particulars without their being much pleased 
or alarmed. Here they felt its pulse ; and as they found 
that beat, they thought themselves sick or sound." 

So this first half of the eighteenth century passed away, 
uneventfully on the whole. On the north and west the bor- 
ders were time and again beset by wandering 
A period of parties of French and Indians. The outbreak 
of actual war caused some excitement, and 
brought almost surely a dispute with some ambitious gov- 
ernor over increased supply or new authority. But the 
signs of the times are a steady development in the arts and 
practices of self-government, a slow but sure advancement 
in industrial prosperity, a quiet and sober progress toward a 
self-sufficient and independent life. 

We can not enter at length into the history of New 

England during these years. We must content ourselves 

with noticing one or two instances of political 

MsL^?^^^""^ controversy that illustrate the spirit of the 

people. One of the governors of Massachusetts 

on returning to Ens^land complained bitterly of the temper 

of " Boston, a town of eighteen thousand inhabitants." 

He declared that it was full of a "leveling 

spirit," and that the citizens were bent upon 

making " continual encroachments on the few prerogatives 

left to the Crown." These angry words were doubtless not 

far from true. The people of Massachusetts had no thought 

of treason or insurrection ; but they were determined to 



120 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

govern themselves just as far as they possibly could, and to 
cling persistently to their own purse strings and open their 
purse at their own discretion. At times they managed to 
get on very well with the royal governor ; but often they 
were engaged in some dispute with him. A good illustra- 
tion of these differences is a controversy between the Assem- 
bly and the governor over the question of permanent salary. 
Successive governors demanded that the legislature should 
grant a permanent sum. The house preferred to make its 
grant annually. Especially during the administration of 
Burnett (1728-29) the controversy was hotly waged. The 
governor threatened and scolded the legislators, dissolved 
the General Court, and declared they should not longer sit 
at Boston, but at Cambridge or Salem, " where prejudices 
had not taken root," but all to no avail. His successor 
brought with him rigid instructions to obtain a permanent 
salary, but he did not succeed. He finally gave way and 
accepted, with due thankfulness no doubt, the pay the 
house was willing to give each year. Thus the people won 
by obstinate striving the power of keeping the governor in 
order by controlling his pay. 

The history of Connecticut and Ehode Island differed 
in one way essentially from that of Massachusetts, because 

in these colonies there was no royal governor 
sSrisland^^^ *^ cause annoyance. Several times they were 

threatened with the loss of their free charters ; 
but they contrived by argument and clever management to 
save these precious documents. Although not engaged in 
quarrels with royal governors, the people were interested in 
political questions and governed themselves quietly and well. 
Turning to New York, we find that its political history 
was in many ways not essentially different from that of 

Massachusetts. Probably New York was un- 

Uew York 

usually unfortunate in the royal governors that 

were sent to rule over her. Some of them were not very 

bad, but others either were greedy and bent upon filling 



THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 121 

their purses or were very quarrelsome and domineering. 
The Assembly struggled doggedly against successive gov- 
ernors, winning little by little a stronger hold upon the 
Government. One who knew the people well told the au- 
thorities in England (1729) that "most of the previous and 
open steps which a dependent state can take to render them- 
selves independent at their pleasure are taken by the As- 
sembly of New York." 

Prominent among the royal governors of New York was 
one Cosby (1732-'36), a money getter, a boisterous, irrita- 
ble fellow, tactless and devoid of both decorum 
The right of g^^^^j virtue. A man named Zensjer published 
free speech. . . r? , i, j 

m his paper some criticisms oi the governor, de- 
claring that the people of New York " think that slavery is 
likely to be entailed on them and their posterity if some 
things be not amended." Thereupon the paper was ordered 
burned and Zenger was cast into prison and brought to trial 
for criminal libel. The lawyer who defended him admitted 
that the articles in question had been published, but asserted 
that they were true and not false or scandalous. " A free 
people," said the bold lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, " are not 
obliged by any law to support a governor who goes about to 
destroy a province." He pointed to the abuses of the ex- 
ecutive power and warned the jury that it was " not the 
cause of a poor printer alone, nor of New York alone. No ! 
it may in its consequences affect every freeman that lives 
under a British government on the main of America." He 
called upon them to protect the liberty " to which Nature 
and the laws of our country have given us a right, the lib- 
erty both of exposing and opposing arbitrary power, in 
these parts of the world at least, by speaking and writing 
the truth." Zenger was acquitted, and Hamilton, who was 
a Pennsylvanian, was given the freedom of the city in a 
gold snuff box. These were pretty evident straws to show 
which way the wind was blowing in New York. 

We might expect that in Pennsylvania, founded by a 



122 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

generous proprietor and inhabited by a peace-loving people, 
there would be no contentions or disputes. But it had its 
full share. In 1718 Penn died and the province 
ennsy vania, \)qqq^j^q i]^q property of his heirs. The colony 
prospered exceedingly and grew in wealth and population, 
and as it grew the people became somewhat masterful and 
assertive, quite as insistent upon their full rights as were the 
people of any colony. Various disputes between governor 
and Assembly arose, and in them all the Assembly was ob- 
stinate and tenacious of its rights. When the troubles with 
France grew serious in the middle of the century and the 
frontier settlements were attacked by the Indians, the Gov- 
ernment, refusing to do as the Assembly wished, had diffi- 
culty in getting money to repel the invaders. One can not 
entirely sympathize with the people in their inflexible re- 
fusal to grant supplies at a time when the borders of the 
colony were laid waste by Indian forays. But the refusal 
shows well that the legislators knew their rights and were 
determined to act on them. When the governor pleaded 
for money they would not yield, quietly remarking that 
" they had rather the French should conquer them than 
give up their privileges." " Truly," remarked Governor 
Dinwiddle, of Virginia, " I think they have given their 
senses a long holiday." 

Among the most notable governors of the eighteenth 
century was Alexander Spotswood, who for twelve years was 

. . at the head of the government in Virginia 

(1710-'22). Like many another ruler, he 
thought that the duty of the people lay in obedience alone, 
and he was wont to lecture the burgesses as if they were so 
many schoolboys, declaring that they had not the "ordi- 
nary qualifications for legislators." * But withal he was an 

* Chalmers, in his Introduction to the Revolt of the Americah Colo- 
nies, says : " Had Spotswood even invaded the privileges, while he only 
mortified the pride of the Virginians, they ought to have erected a 
statue to the memory of the ruler who gave them the manufacture of 



THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 123 

able and energetic man, sincerely devoted to the interests 
of the colony and full of zeal for its improvement. On the 

whole, therefore, his administration was peace- 
S^tTwood ^^^^ ^^^ prosperous. "This government," he 

said, " is in perfect peace and tranquillity, un- 
der a due obedience to the royal authority and a gentle- 
manly conformity to the Church of England." He brought 
about peace with the Indians, who were apt to be trouble- 
some on the border.* Under his leadership an expedition 
was made over the Blue Ridge and into the Shenandoah 
Valley. Such a journey was only a pleasant excursion in 
comparison with the long exploring trips of the French far 
into the unknown west ; but it made much noise in the col- 
ony, for governors were not accustomed to interest them- 
selves in exploration or in extending the bounds of their 
provinces. 

In the second quarter of the century Virginia began to 
reach out toward the mountains and to long for the smiling 

valleys beyond. Soon a tide of immigration 
frontiS^ set in and swept into the fertile fields along 

the Shenandoah. About the middle of the 
century, then, we see in Virginia two strongly contrasted 
societies. On the tide-water rivers a race of planters " dress- 
ing richly, living on large estates, riding in coaches, and 
attending the Church of England " ; past the mountains 
hardy settlers, "clearing the land, building houses and 
churches, and making a new Virginia in the wilderness ; 
and still farther toward the Alleghanies, hardy frontiers- 
men who have set their feet on the very outposts of civil- 
ization." There is little resemblance in life and habits. 
The planter is waited upon by slaves ; the frontiersman 
must defend himself and earn his own hard livelihood. 

iron, and showed them by his active example that it is diligence and 
attention which can alone make a people great." 

* A very interesting account of Governor Spotswood is given in 
Cooke's Virginia, p. 311. 



124 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Yet both are Virginians, and both are devoted to liberty. 
The planter, accustomed to rule others as well as himself, 
would not brook restraint. The pioneer breathed in free- 
dom with every draught of mountain air.* 

The Carolinas entered the eighteenth century somewhat 
restless under the senseless proprietary rule, but, on the 

whole, they were prosperous and progressive. 

South Carolina had grown quickly into a staid 
community. Oharlestown was already a thriving little 
place, the home of the planters, who left their plantations 
in the interior to be cultivated by slaves, while they enjoyed 
the pleasures of town life. They were men of force and 
ability, many of them educated gentlemen, and they felt 
quite competent to manage their own affairs without great 
deference to the proprietors, who seemed to have no knowl- 
edge of the real needs of the colony, and to care little for 
the interests and wishes of the colonists. Such a condition 
of affairs could bring but one result. The people formed 
"an association to stand by their rights and privileges," 
and the popular assembly took the reins into its own hands 

and refused to be ruled longer by a set of non- 
froyd^cTony! resident proprietors, who were greedy only for 

their own gain. This practical revolution (1719) 
was not made a legal fact until ten years after the first re- 
volt. Then the proprietors gave up their charter, and 
South Carolina became a royal colony. 

North Carolina did not throw off the proprietary yoke 
when her southern neighbor rebelled, but she too became a 

royal colony in 1729. Her population grew 
Carolina. rapidly, but the people were not so progressive 

as those of either Virginia or South Carolina. 
Without convenient harbors, the people had little or no 
communication with the outside world, even the tobacco 
crop being carried to Virginia for transportation abroad. 

* Read Cooke's Virginia, p. 322 et seq. 



THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 125 

For this and other reasons life was simple and primitive. 
Many of the colonists were ignorant, and showed no desire 
for learning ; printing was not introduced until about the 
middle of the century, and schools were almost unknown. 
Among such a people we ought not to expect a great knowl- 
edge of the art of politics; yet here, too, the colonists 
showed some capacity for managing their own affairs, and 
were growing steadily into an appreciation of the problems 
and principles of self-government. 



^ q^b. 



GEORGIA— 1732-1765. 



By the beginning of the eighteenth century, as we have 
seen, England had planted colonies along the Atlantic coast 

from the Kennebec Eiver at the north to the 
Spain and Savannah at the south. Spain, on the other 

hand, had made no progress toward the north 
since the founding of St. Augustine. This settlement 
served as an outpost to guard her West Indian colonies, 
but it served no other purpose. Though Spain did nothing 
herself, she watched England's advance with jealous eye, 
and continued to claim the land as her own far north of 
her actual possessions. At the beginning she might have 
broken up the colony at Jamestown and prevented the 
Englishmen from gaining a foothold on the coast ; but it 
was too late now, and all she could do was to hold what she 
had and protest against the aggressions of England along 
the coast and of France in the Mississippi Valley. In 1670 
England and Spain entered into an agreement known as 
the American, treaty, but this did not determine the bound- 
ary between Florida and Carolina. Sixty years after the 
founding of South Carolina there was no settlement south 
of the Savannah.* 



* England had established weak military outposts there, but there 
Was no settlement. 
10 



126 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



A colony was finally planted in this region through the 
efforts of James Oglethorpe, a member of the English Par- 
liam^ent, "a gentleman of unblemished char- 



Oglethorpe. 



acter, brave, generous, and humane." He saw 



the desirability of founding a settlement in the country 
south of the Oarolinas. At this time in England persons 

were imprisoned for debt 
and hanged for a petty 
theft. Each year, we are 
told, at least four thousand 
unhappy men were shut 
up in prison because of 
the misfortune of poverty. 
The jails were wretched, 
woe-begone places, scenes 
of misery and often of 
horror. Oglethorpe pro- 
posed to carry away these 
luckless captives to Ameri- 
ca, and there to found a 
colony where they might 
have a chance to get 
ahead in the world. Oglethorpe and several other persons 
were constituted "trustees for the establishing the colony 
of Georgia in America." The king granted 
s purposes. ^]^gj^ ^ charter and vested them with com- 
plete power. 

Oglethorpe was chosen to lead the expedition, and set 
sail for America with a number of colonists in the latter 
part of 1732. In February of the next year he 
founded Savannah. Other settlers soon fol- 
lowed, ajaong them a number of German Prot- 
estants, who had been persecuted at home for tlieir religion. 
These people were thrifty and industrious, and did much 
for the colony. But the shiftless debtors that were brought 
over do not seem to have learned how to work. A few years 




The colony 
founded. 



THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 12Y 

later still other emigrants arrived, among them Moravians 
and Lutherans from Germany. 

Oglethorpe was well fitted for the task of protecting his 
frontier colony against the attacks of Spain. When war 
broke out between England and Spain in 1739 
s'^aiiT^*^ Georgia was in an exposed position. Ogle- 

thorpe conducted an expedition against the 
Spanish colony, but was obliged to give up the siege which 
he had begun. The enemy in turn made a fierce attack 
upon the town of Frederica. It was repelled through the 
courage and clever strategy of Oglethorpe. Thereafter the 
colony was safe from Spanish attack. A new domain had 
been securely added to the English Crown. 

Georgia developed slowly. The rule of Oglethorpe was 
just, but as the time went on the regulations of the trustees 
became very obnoxious to the settlers. In 1752 
S\he cllony. *^^® trustees gave up their charter to the Crown, 
and Georgia became a royal colony. A legisla- 
ture was established, and in administration and political 
form Georgia became similar to the other colonies. From 
this time on the colony grew more rapidly, and acquired 
stability and strength ; but when the troubles with England 
began, and America was drawn into war against the mother 
country, Georgia was still a backward province ; its people 
had had little practice in self-government, and, as we might 
expect, played no very conspicuous part in the struggle for 
political and civil liberty. 

Everywhere throughout America in the eighteenth cen- 
tury there developed the spirit of liberty and capacity for 
Material self-government. But quite as important in 

prosperity its influence on our later history is the mate- 

and democracy, ^ial development of these years. The colonies 
waxed powerful and rich, losing all the appearance of strug- 
gling frontier settlements. And with this growth there 
came a strong sense of popular rights, the feeling of man- 



128 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



ly independence, which was the firm foundation of the 
coming democracy. 

References. 

Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, Chapter XIV; Fisher, 
The Colonial Era, Fart II. Longer accounts : Bryant and Gay, Pop- 
ular History, Volume III, pp. 151-170, 222-254; Bancroft, History, 
Volume II, pp. 3-85, 238-280; Lodge, Short History, passim. 

For Georgia. — Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 
258-263; Fisher, The Colonial Era, pp. 303-313. An interesting ac~ 
count of Oglethorpe is to be found in Bruce, James Edward Ogle- 
thorpe (notice especially Chapters III, IV, and VII). Bancroft, His- 
tor3% Volume II, pp. 280-299; Bryant and Gay, Popular History, 
Volume III, pp. 140-169; Greene, Colonial Commonwealths (use 
index). 




View of Christ Church, Boston, 

On the spire of which Paul Ecvere hung lanterns to announce 

the arrival of the British troops. 



CHAPTER VI. 
France and England— 1608-1763. 

Soon after the accession of William III to the throne of 

England war was begun with France. This was in 1689, and 

for the next one hundred and twenty-five years 

Second hundred ^]-^g ^^q countries were in continual enmity, 
years wari . . 

often in open war. This long struggle has 

been named not inaptly the " second hundred years' war." * 
The nations were natural rivals. They differed in religion 
and they differed in their ambitions in European politics. 
Most important of all, each had hopes of wide dominion in 
America, and their claims conflicted. From our point of 
view these contests mean but this : they were to decide 
which nation was the more vigorous, virile, and sound, which 
nation was so made up in its moral and physical fiber and 
in its political talent, that it would succeed in securing 
America to itself. The prize was, above all, that great cen- 
tral valley of our country — a noble prize indeed, as fertile 
a space for its size as the globe shows, capable of sustain- 
ing two hundred million inhabitants, traversed by mighty 
rivers, free from impassable mountain chains, a place which 
Natiire seems to have fashioned as the home of a single peo- 
ple. And so in the history of the world these wars mean 
much ; they were not petty squabbles between kings and 
princes, but the struggles of nations for empire. Before the 

* Seeley, Expansion of England, Lecture II. Seeley's positions are 
somewhat extreme, but the book is profoundly interesting and sug- 
gestive. 

129 



130 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

hundred years were gone a great portion of the prize had 
fallen to England and a part again had been wrested from 
her by her rebellious colonies ; and yet from the accession 
of William III to the downfall of Napoleon the enmity of 
the two great nations may be said to have sprung from their 
colonial ambitions. 

Let us trace out, not in detail but roughly, the early ex- 
pansion of French power in America. We have seen that 
early in the sixteenth century explorers from 
France ready France sailed along the coast and that efforts 
were made to settle on the banks of the St. 
Lawrence. But the efforts of these years only prepared the 
way for the successes of the next century. France had been 
torn by civil war, distracted by religious hatred, but the 
end of the sixteenth century found her at peace. Henry 
IV, a rugged soldier, had won the throne and issued the fa- 
mous Edict of Xantes, proclaiming liberty of worship to 
Huguenots. France sank into repose, while art, industry, 
and commerce sprang into renewed life. Adventurous men, 
losing their trade of war, were ready to seek new employ- 
ment for their restless energies. 

One such was Samuel de Ohamplain, a bold, resolute man 
of dauntless courage. Wearying of France in " piping times 
of peace," he sought new adventures beyond the 
amp ain. ocean. He explored the coast of 'New England, 
and finally (1608) founded Quebec. Thus the French ac- 
quired a permanent abiding place at the north in a posi- 
tion of great military strength, on the river that afforded a 
highway to the Great Lakes and to the great valley beyond. 
Champlain continued his discoveries to the south and west. 
He discovered the lake which bears his name in 1609, and 
later made his way westward as far as Lake Huron. Until 
his death, in 1635, he labored ceaselessly in exploration and 
was the moving spirit in colonial enterprise. 

But Champlain made one grievous blunder, that in time 
brought woe to French colonists. In 1609, in company 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763. 



131 



with a war party of Algonquin Indians, he made his way 
southward from Quebec, and on the banks of the lake that 
„. ,.,. now bears his name attacked and routed a 

ms expeaition 

against the band of Iroquois. A similar expedition a few 
Iroquois. years later was not so successful, and the only 

result of espousing the cause of the Algonquins against 
their ancient foe was to make the warriors of the Five Na- 
tions the inveterate enemies of the French. 




'^ii-'J " 






\KV\v\ 







^ X ^Xfe^^S 




JM::X--::-JM 



The five 

nations. 



Defeat of the Iroquois. From Champlatn's Voyages, 1613. 

The Iroquois were a powerful and capable race. All the 
tribes of the North and East stood in dread of them. As 
far west as the Mississippi, as far east as Maine, 
as far south as the Carolinas, they were known 
and feared. They are said to have called Lake 
Champlain the gateway of the country. Such it may be 
said to be to-day. It forms with the Hudson a line of com- 
munication with the Atlantic ; it is the road to Canada from 
the south. Hence in all wars between the nation that pos- 
sesses Canada and that which holds the Atlantic coast this 
valley must be a place of great strategic importance. The 
Iroquois seem to have felt the strength of their position. 



132 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



These people were now made by Champlain's action the 
enduring enemies of the French. " For over a century the 
Iroquois found no pastime equal to rendering 
life in Canada miserable." The Dutch of New 
York, more fortunate, made friends with these 
tribes, and when the Dutch were supplanted by the English 
they too for some years held the Iroquois as allies. Thus 



Results of 
Iroquois enmity. 




FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763. I33 

the settlements of tlie middle Atlantic coast were in their 
early years protected from French attack by this living bar- 
rier, the Iroquois — a barrier impassable by French war par- 
ties. Moreover, partly because of the Iroquois, the French 
made their explorations into the west and northwest rather 
than to the south and southwest. Lake Superior was known 
before Lake Erie, and the Mississippi had been traversed 
before the waters of the Ohio were known. In conse- 
quence, for a long time the French and English settle- 
ments diverged, the French occupying positions on the 
Great Lakes and the rivers of the far West long before they 
dared to come near the English by occupying places imme- 
diately beyond the mountains. The great struggle between 
France and England did not come till, under different con- 
ditions, the authorities of Canada tried to take and hold 
strategic points in the eastern portion of the Ohio Valley. 

The seventeenth century is a picturesque period in the 
history of Canada. Bold adventurers and soldiers, brave 

and patient priests, hardy fur traders and rest- 
fx^ b^re^r^^^ less rovers, all did their part in exploring the 

great West, carrying the lilies of France, the 
cross of the church, or the brandy and gewgaws of the mer- 
chant into the remote solitudes of the interior. As early as 
1634 Jean Nicollet was in AVisconsin and Illinois. A few 
years later Jesuit priests preached their faith before two 
thousand naked savages at the falls of Ste. Marie. Soon 
after this Allouez began a mission in this same region, and 
for thirty years he passed from tribe to tribe in that far-off 
wilderness, preaching and exhorting and striving to implant 
his faith. Marquette gathered the Indians about him at 
Sault Ste. Marie, and passed even to the farther end of 
Lake Superior, seeking to win souls for the Church. St. 
Lusson (1671), at the Sault, with solemn ceremony before a 
motley concourse of braves, proclaimed the sovereign title 
of the great monarch of France to all the surrounding 
lands, " in all their length and breadth, bounded on the one 



FRANCE AND ENGLAISfD— 1608-1 ^'63. 135 

side by the seas of the North and West, and on the other 
by the South Sea." In 1673 Joliet and Marquette paddled 
up the Fox Eiver in their birchen canoes, floated down 
the Wisconsin, and came out on the broad waters of the 
Mississippi. Descending even beyond the Missouri, they 
returned by way of the Illinois and the Chicago portage. 
But most conspicuous among these bold explorers is Robert 
Cavalier de la Salle, a marvel of a man, resolute, brave, 
inflexible of purpose. Danger, disappointment, hardships, 
treachery, beset him, but he overcame them all and effected 
his object. In the year 1682 his little flotilla of canoes 
floated down the Mississippi to its mouth, and La Salle 
took possession of the vast valley in the name of Louis XIV. 

Thus the dauntless French explorers had traversed the 
great West, while the English settlements nestled close to 
the Atlantic seaboard, almost within sound of 
the surf. France possessed the two great gate- 
ways and highways to the interior of the continent.* And 
thus K'ew France was founded with its two heads, as Park- 
man has said, one in the canebrakes of Louisiana and the 
other in the snows of Canada. The first settlement in 
Louisiana was in 1699, and New Orleans was founded in 
1718. By this time little groups of Frenchmen had settled 
down upon the banks of the Western rivers. Here and 
there a fort was built. Detroit was founded by Cadillac in 
1701. Even thus early throughout the West the points of 
military advantage were chosen. 

The methods of French colonization form a sharp con- 
trast to those of the English. The Englishman came to 

* It should be noticed that the English were hemmed in between 
the mountains and the sea. While the mountains acted as a barrier to 
the extension of the English colonies, they also served to protect the 
settlers from attack. Doubtless the chief reason why the English did 
not extend their settlements at an early day into the far West was the 
t&ci that they were chiefly interested in industrial and commercial life, 
in clearing farms, in founding towns, and in building ships. 



1S6 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

the New World for himself — to find a home, perchance to 
escape religious persecution, or to follow the light of his 

own conscience, expecting by hard and hon- 
colfnization ®^^ ^^^^ ^^ work his way to comfort. He was 

uncared for by the mother country, and his 
colony flourished in neglect. Occasionally a meddlesome 
governor awakened his political spirit, but, as a rule, he 
governed himself as he chose. He and his fellows founded 
villages and cities and established a lucrative commerce. 
They built schoolhouses and churches, and gradually worked 
their way back from the sea as the population increased and 
new needs arose. Everywhere was prevalent a spirit of 
sturdy independence. The English settler had not then, 
any more than he has to-day in India, the power of associa- 
tion with the race below him. There were instances of 
friendship between the red men and the whites ; there were 
a few unbroken treaties ; but the career of the Englishman 
was one of conquest. He pushed the Indians ruthlessly 
before him, and turned up their hunting grounds with his 
plowshare. 

The French were not so. Their earliest pioneers were 
priests striving with marvelous heroism to win heathen to 

the church, or adventurous soldiers who sought 
Tt^T^ ^'^^ honors and empire for the monarch of France. 

The settlements along the St. Lawrence were 
harshly ruled by edict and royal order. They knew nothing 
of self-government or of self-taxation. The colony was not 
neglected, but cared for by the home Government. It was 
absolutely ruled, continually interfered with. The roots of 
mediaeval feudalism were fastened in the soil. There was 
no chance for the development of men, for practice in poli- 
tics, for self-reliance. 

On the other hand, as a contrast to this iron rule were 
other influences in Canada. The fur trade charmed away 
from the settlements many restless fellows, who, breaking 
over the restrictions of the home Government, which tried 



j^38 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

from the offices of Paris to control the details of the fur 
hunting of America, wandered off into the West and engaged 
in the lucrative trade. A picturesque element 
ii^rfuT trade. ^^^^ ^^^g^ rollicking boatmen and rangers of 
the wouu. Tiiey helped France to hold positions in the 
West, but they AVb^ ^-? ^o great service as colonists. Some 
helped to make the little fc^^i^inments that were formed in 
the interior along the rivers that Irc- into the lakes, and 
even beside those that find their way soutipr^^^rd to the 
Gulf. Thus the contrast between the English and ^'lench 
colonists was strong, and the result of seventy years of Vvar 
would show which nation had the sounder and better colo- 
nial system and the greater inherent strength. 

The war between England and France that broke out 
when William III came to the English throne spread at 

once to America.* In 1690 Sir William Phips 
warr^^"""'*^ led a company of New Englanders by sea 

against Port Eoyal — now Annapolis, N^ova Sco- 
tia — and captured it. Later in the summer he made a 

demonstration against Quebec, but did not 
Waf le^SQ^'g'?. capture the place. At the close of the war 

Port Eoyal was given up by the English. 
In 1702 broke out Queen Anne's War. This is known 
in English history as the War of the Spanish Succession, 

because the controversy seemed to turn upon 
War^i702^'i3. ^^® possible accession of a French prince to the 

throne of Spain. The New England troops 
tried three times to take Port Royal, and the third time 
succeeded. An effort to take Quebec miserably failed. 
The treaty of Utrecht ending the war gave to England 
Acadia, with its " ancient limits," and this indefinite bound- 
ary was fruitful of much future wrangling. There was no 

* In 1628 and 1629 the English attacked Port Royal and Quebec, 
and captured both places. But these places were given back to France 
in a short time. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763. 139 

war between France and England again for some thirty 
years ; but there was little peace for the colonies. Their 
frontiers were in constant peril from Indian forays. The 
history of the period is full of heartrending stories of mid- 
night attack and slaughter. 

The war known in English history as the War of the 
Austrian Succession is called in America King George's 

War. Its chief event was the capture of the 
Waf 1742-48. ^o^tress of Louisburg, on the island of Cape 

Breton. The honor fell entirely to the New 
England troops, though they were aided by an English 
fleet. This port was given up at the end of the war, much 
to the disgust of the colonies, who disliked to see their 
efforts thus disregarded. England, however, paid back to 
Massachusetts the money that she had expended in the en- 
terprise. 

It was evident that a great, fierce contest was yet to 
come, and France and England watched each other closely. 

It was equally clear that, in spite of their great 
Jongr^sti754. s^^^^ngth, the English colonies were in danger 

because they did not act together. It was sug- 
gested that a congress for conference be held, made up of 
commissioners from the various assemblies. The chief ob- 
ject was a joint treaty with the Iroquois. Such a congress 
met at Albany. Eepresentatives were present from seven 
colonies. It had no immediate result, though the example 
was beyond question of importance in succeeding years. 
Benjamin Franklin, a member of the congress, drew up and 
presented a plan of union which provided for the formation 
of a grand council of forty-eight members selected from the 
colonies and a president general appointed by the Crown. 

This plan of union was not acceptable to the 
pkn ^^ colonial assemblies, nor did it meet with fa- 

vor in England. The lords of trade had al- 
ready prepared a plan of their own; but anything like 
a free union of the colonies seems to have been looked 



140 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

upon with suspicion in the mother country, possibly with 
dread.* 

The treaty which ended the War of the Austrian Succes- 
sion was in reality but a truce. The treaty of Utrecht 
(1713) had declared that the Iroquois were sub- 
French and_ -^^^ ^^ Great Britain, and now Eneiand claimed 

Englisli claims, «* ' . ° 

as her own the vast territory over which the 

war parties of the six nations ranged, "every mountain, 
forest, or prairie where an Iroquois had taken a scalp." The 
French, on the other hand, claimed the whole Mississippi 
Valley, as well as all the land that was drained by rivers 
flowing into the St. Lawrence. Acadia, moreover, had been 
given to England. But what was Acadia ? Commissioners 
appointed to settle the matter could not agree. War was 
the tribunal that remained. 

Meanwhile France had been strengthening her position 
and creeping nearer to her enemies on their western fron- 
tier. A position at Niagara was taken and 
French forts. fortified, and forts were built on the head wa- 
ters of the Ohio. Thus the French were well on their way 
to hem in the English east of the mountains and to shut 
them out of the Ohio Valley. f 

Governor Dinwiddle of Virginia was watchful of the 

French advances, and decided to send a remonstrance. He 

chose as his messenger George Washington, a 

"WasMngton . , _ ° , .°. o j- , . 

meets the joung man holding the position oi adjutant 

French. general of the Virginia militia. Washington 

made his perilous journey at the beginning of winter. He 
found the French at Fort Le Boeuf as well as Venango, and 
warned them that they must not infringe on British do- 

* The earliest plan came from the great Penn, and was called " A 
Briefe and Plaine Scheame how the English Colonies in the North 
part of America . . . may be made more useful to the Crown and one 
another's peace and safety with an universall concurrence." 

f See map opposite. France had good ground for claiming the 
Texas country, perhaps even to the Rio Grande. 



142 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



minion.* The French, of course, refused to heed snob 
warnings, and the next year took a further step in advance 

by occupying a most 
important position, f 
They built Fort Du- 
quesne at the forks 
of the Ohio, where 
Pittsburg now stands. 
This was the signal 
for war. Washing- 
ton with a few troops 
marched against the 
enemy, but was de- 
feated and obliged to 
give up the under- 
taking. Thus all Eng- 
lish efforts to occupy 
these strategic posi- 
tions were frustrated 
by the French, who acted with promptness and decision. 
" Not an English flag now waved beyond the Alleghanies." 
The next year the English set vigorously to work. Gen- 
eral Braddock was sent to America to command the forces 
and to dislodge the French in the West. A 
defeatrnSB. courageous soldier, and one who might, as 
Franklin said, have made a good figure in 
some European war, he was unfit for the task assigned 
him. In the summer of 1755 he led an expedition against 
Fort Duquesne. Near the Monongahela the army was at 
tacked by the French and their Indian allies. Braddock 
was slain and the whole force routed. Thus ended the 




* See Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe, vol, i, p. 131 fl. for Wash- 
ington's expedition. 

f The English had actually begun the works, but were obliged to 
yield to the French. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1G08-17G3. I43 

first battle in the great valley between the contestants for 
its possession. England was woefully beaten. 

The plans of this year included attacks upon Niagara 
and Crown Point. Both efforts were unsuccessful, although 

a victory was won by the English at Lake 
of the year. George. The year brought slight consolation 

or hope to the English. 
While this fighting was going on in America there was 
still a nominal peace in Europe. In 1756 war was formally 

declared between France and England.* This 
The Seven ^^g ^j^g beginning of the Seven Years' War. 

Tlie contest was not limited to two combat- 
ants. It involved nearly the whole continent. England 
was allied with Frederick the Great of Prussia, and 

against them were arrayed Russia, Sweden, 

Saxony, Austria, and France. Frederick, al- 
most completely surrounded by foes superior in power if 
not in valor, fought with desperation and with consum- 
mate skill and bravery. His support from England was for 
a long time weak and ineffective, for the English Govern- 
ment was corrupt and feeble. Walpole's belief that every 
man had his price had become the corner stone of cabinets ; 
governments were founded on bribery. That parliamentary 

government was dependent on corruption had 

arisen almost to the dignity of a principle in 
political science. The nation was strong and robust, for it 
cherished the precepts of real freedom ; but it was the 
coarse, vulgar England of one hundred and fifty years ago. 
At the head of the Government was Newcastle, an expert 
in corruption. Yet weak as was England, France was 
weaker still. England was sound at heart, because her 
throne rested on the people. In France the monarch was 
absolute ; the people existed for the Government ; there 



* The Seven Years' War of Europe (1756-'63) was the French and 
Indian War of America. There was actually war here after 1754. 



144 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



was no parliament that needed to be bribed ; there was not 
even the appearance of poHtical Hfe. The nobility that 
surrounded the king were frivolous lovers of 
folly. The people were taxed to support an 
empty pageantry. There was no heart in the nation. Op- 
pression, luxury, extravagance prevailed, and the nobility, 



France. 




that should have been the protectors, leaders, and defenders 
of the people, wasted the people's substance and despoiled 
them.* 



* Valuable and entertaining accounts of the condition of the com- 
batants in Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe, vol. i, chap, i, and vol. ii, 
chap, xviii. Sloane's The French War and the Revolution, chaps, i, 
ii, and iii. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763. 145 

The French in America did not exceed eighty thousand 
in number, and they were neither wealthy nor progressive, 

but, on the other hand, they were despotically 
Strength of governed, and had therefore a certain military 

advantage in a war with a self-governing peo- 
ple. The French could strike, while the governors of Eng- 
lish colonies were wrestling with obstinate assemblies and 
begging for money and munitions of war. Moreover, Can- 
ada was well protected by nature ; she was shielded by thick- 
ets and almost impassable forests. There were only two 
ways in which to reach the real center of Canada : one 
was by way of Lake Champlain, where the French were 
strongly posted ; the other was by way of the St. Lawrence, 
and there above its waters frowned the fortifications of 
Quebec. The French were aided by their devoted friends 
the Algonquin Indians, while the English had no secure 
hold upon the Iroquois, although during the course of 
the war, because of the exertions of Sir William John- 
son, they were brought to render the English cause some 
service. 

The English colonies had a population of 1,300,000 white 
people. The people were well-to-do. The colonies were 

supplied with provisions and other sinews of 
c^obnL^"^^''^ ^^^«^- ^l^ile it is true that the assemblies 

were often obstinate and hesitating, and the 
different colonies were jealous of one another, the Eng- 
lish colonist, unlike the Canadian peasant, knew for what 
he fought. When once the colonies were aroused to 
fight they gave men and money liberally, and showed a 
power, a vigor, and an earnestness such as could come 
only from free-thinking, free-acting, and freedom-loving 
people. 

At first the war was conducted by the English in a 
slovenly and ineffectual manner. On the other hand, the 
Marquis de Montcalm, the French general, newly appointed 
to command in Canada, acted with promptness and vigor. 



146 



HISTORY OF THE AMP]RICAN NATION. 



The Indians were ceaseless in their cruelties.* The two 
English generals who came over in 175(3 — Loudon and 
Campaign of Abercrombie — were incompetent and preten- 
1756 and 1757. tious. The colonists quite justly dubbed the 

latter " Miss Nabby- 
crombie." This year 
Oswego, the English 
outpost on Lake Onta- 
rio, fell. The next year 
(1757) great prepara- 
tions were made to at- 
tack Louisburg ; but 
nothing was acco *^- 
plished. Montcalm 

captured Fort William 
Henry at the head of 
Lake George. Fort Ed- 
ward still remained in 
the hands of the Eng- 
lish, but the northern 
frontier was ravaged by 
Indian parties, and the 
situation in New York 
was distressing.! 

There now came into 

the British Cabinet a 

great man. AVilliam 

Pitt became Secretary 

of State, and was given full control of war and foreign 

affairs. It was a momentous day for England. " I am sure 

* " Not a week passes but the French send them [the English] a band 
of hairdressers whom they would be very glad to dispense with. 
(Letter of a young French captain to his father, quoted in Montcalm 
and Wolfe, vol. i, p. 380.) 

f John Adams, on hearing of these matters, is said to have likened 
the English generals to millstones hung about the colonial neck. 




TSar the 




' '^.Jtp/zn-e^ . ^ 

■ ; '■■■ tft&d tfuFle£t/f-fftn^Ji/!qli) ti^lire , 






A Contemporary Plan 



Jag-. 



jA.I'i.^usr or Tsm 
Actio JS^g-ained brti^ENGXISTr 








/ /,' ; / .*, \ ^ ».'■"■, ^7'- -S-.?^-? tin el 




liE Siege of Quebec. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763. 147 

that I can save this country, and that nobody else can," he 
said. He was full of life, confidence, and energy. He was 

an orator of great power, the idol of the com- 
^™ ^ ' mon people, a lover of old England, and a be- 
liever in her strength. For the next four years the eyes of 
the world were upon him, and by his magnificent daring and 
by the fire of his word he raised slothful England from 
degradation and dismay to a lofty pinnacle of power, where 
she felt her strength only too keenly. " England has at last 
produced a man," said Frederick the Great. Pitt arranged 
for the American war on a liberal scale, and prepared to win. 
In 1758 Fort Frontenac, near the mouth of Lake On- 
tario, and Fort Duquesne were captured by the English. 

But the next campaign brought even greater 
1758^1759. victories. The English were now confident, the 

Canadians in despair. Pitt's courage and en- 
thusiasm assured success. The plans for the year included 
the capture of Xiagara, Ticonderoga, and Quebec. Am- 
herst was to take Ticonderoga, and then proceed north to 
Quebec and there join Wolfe, who was to sail up the St. 
Lawrence and beset the city. The plan was partly carried 
out. Xiagara was captured. This place, with Fort Du- 
quesne, secured to the English the control of the Ohio 
Valley. Amherst captured Ticonderoga; but he worked 
with such masterly deliberation that co-operation with 
Wolfe was impossible. Wolfe made his way up the great 
river which the French had controlled so long and prepared 
to attack Quebec. The place was the strongest natural 
fortress in America, and was under the command of Mont- 
calm, who was able and brave. The whole summer was 
passed without result. Wolfe tried various expedients to 
entice the enemy to an open fight, for to attack their de- 
fenses seemed madness. Finally he determined upon the 
bold and seemingly impossible task of scaling the high 
bluff that rose precipitously from the river. A favoring 
ravine seemed to offer a footing. On the night of the 12th 



148 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

of September a body of about thirty-five hundred men 
struggled up the height, and in the morning stood upon the 

Plains of Abraham. Montcalm was surprised, 

but accepted the gage of battle. The battle was a 
brief one. The French were repulsed. Montcalm and Wolfe 
were killed. Quebec fell into the hands of the English.* 

The next year (1760) Montreal was taken. This was 
practically the end of the war in America. Peace was not 
made in Europe until three years later. Let us see the re- 
sult of the great conflict. France ceded to England all her 

possessions on the North American continent 
Kesult of the g.^g|. ^f ^^^ Mississippi, save New Orleans and 

a small district adjacent to the city. New 
Orleans and all the territory west of the Mississippi, to 
which France had laid claim, passed into the hands of 
Spain, who gave up Florida to England. France was 
allowed certain privileges in the Newfoundland fisheries, 
and two small islands were given her to serve as a shelter 
for her fishermen. She retained her hold on some of the 
West Indies. To this had her vast dominion in the New 
World dwindled. Great Britain was now the great colonial 
power of the world. The little island had become an em- 
pire. " This," said Earl Granville on his deathbed, " has 
been the most glorious war and the most triumphant peace 
that England ever knew." f 

The triumph of Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham, the 



* Horace Walpole wrote : " What a scene ! An army in the night 
dragging itself up a precipice by stumps of trees to assault a town and 
attack an enemy strongly intrenched and double in numbers! The 
king is overwhelmed with addresses of our victories; he will have 
enough to paper his palace." Parkman says : " England blazed with 
bonfires. In one spot alone all was dark and silent ; for here a widowed 
mother mourned for a loving and devoted son, and the people forbore to 
profane her grief with the clamor of their rejoicings." 

t " Englishmen had permanently girdled the globe with English 
civilization and opened boundless avenues to English enterprise." 
(Sloane, The French War and the Revolution, p. 108.) 



150 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

most striking event of this war, is a turning point in mod- 
ern history. It determined that all this vast western region 

should pass into English hands ; that here Eng- 
i^Sry/'"''* 1^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ freedom and law, English customs 

and methods of thought, should prevail. It 
determined that the civilization of the great valley should 
be Teutonic, and not Latin. In addition to this, the acqui- 
sition of Canada was of great moment in our history. 
The colonists were freed from the fear of French invasion, 
and stood no longer in constant dread of Indian attacks. 
They could now with some hope of safety push their way 
across the mountains. Moreover, relieved of these anxie- 
ties, they felt less their dependence on England, although 
all gloried in the name of Englishmen Avhen the mother 
country was thus at the zenith of her power. The war had 
shown that provincial troops could fight and that pro- 
vincial officers were not devoid of skill. The blunders of 
men like Loudon, and the domineering conduct of other 
British officers, left a tinge of resentment in the colonial 
heart.* 

References. 

Short accounts : Thwaites, pp. 33-49, Chapter XII, 274-384 ; 
Hart, Formation of the Union, Chapter II ; Sloane, The French War 
and the Revolution, Chapters III to IX; Bourinot, The Story of 
Canada, especially Chapters XII, XIII, and XVIII; Hinsdale, The 
Old Northwest, Chapters III to V; Thwaites, France in America; 
GrifSs, Sir Wilham Johnson and the Six Nations. 

The whole subject of this chapter is covered in a series of ftisci- 
nating books by Francis Parkman. The reader will find them full 
of interest. The titles are : Pioneers of France in the New World ; 
The Jesuits in America; La Salle and the Discovery of the Great 
West; The Old Regime in Canada; Count Frontenac and New 
France under Louis XIV; A Half Century of Conflict; Montcalm 
and Wolfe ; The Conspiracy of Pontiac. 

* " With the triumph of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham began 
the liistory of the United States." (Green, History of the English 
People, vol. iv, p. 193.) 



CHAPTER VI L 

Social, Industrial, and Political Condition of the Colonies in 

1760. 

Each of the English colonies that lay along the Atlantic 
coast in the middle of the eighteenth century had its own 
individuality and its own peculiarities. The 
Contrasts and people of One colouy knew little of the inhabit- 
ants of the others ; and one can find very little 
evidence of sympathy and fellow-feeling, or of any realiza- 
tion of a common interest and a single destiny. Without 
sympathy there could be no true national life nor any 
strong sentiment of patriotism, and there could not be sym- 
pathy without knowledge. In its origin and history each 
colony differed from the others, and the course of events up 
to the outbreak of the French and Indian War seemed 
rather to strengthen these differences than to wear them 
away. Climatic conditions varied greatly : the mean yearly 
temperature of Maine is not far from that of southern 
Xorway, while the mean yearly temperature of Georgia is 
nearly the same as that of northern Africa. Amid such 
dissimilar surroundings there grew up, as a matter of 
course, distinct methods of social and industrial life. And 
yet there was a strong bond of union binding these groups 
of men together. They had common political ideals, built 
upon the fundamental principles of English freedom ; and 
although each colony differed somewhat from every other, 
they all differed still more widely in spirit and essential 
character from the countries of Europe. 

161 



152 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



If one is to understand the history of the United States, 

he must keep in mind this diversity and this inevitable 

tendency to union and harmony. For these 

Importance of differences were of importance not simplv 
this condition, i m ^i i- . . . „ / 

while the nation was m its infancy (1765- 

'90) or in the days when it was first trying its youthful 
strength. All through our history, even to the present 

time, sectional and local 
peculiarities have had their 
influence. At times they 
have endangered the well- 
being of the whole nation. 
The im|)ortant fact is this : 
because of these differences, 
when the colonies separated 
from Great Britain, they 
could not yield up all rights 
of local government to a 
central government, inas- 
much as each colony or 
State felt its own individu- 
ality. On the other hand, 
the colonies were inspired 
by the same political pur- 
pose ; the ruling spirit in 
all was a spirit of progress ; they cherished like ideals ; they 
had a common cause, which could be realized only through 
union and co-operation. Thus it was that the United 
States came to be — having one Government which repre- 
sents the common interests of all and carries out the pur- 
poses of all, and, on the other hand, being made up of States 

* Samuel Adams, often called the Man of the Town Meeting and the 
Father of the Revolution, is the best example of an energetic politician 
and statesman of the late colonial period. The original of this picture, 
painted by Copley, hung for a time in Faneuil Hall, Boston, but is now 
in the Art Museum. See post, pp. 180-183. 




tJ^a rrf^^f^dc^^f^^ 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 17G0. 153 

or commonwealths, where the people can regulate their own 
local concerns and manage their own affairs as they choose. 

While it is true that each of the colonies had its own 
peculiar life and character, we can easily dis- 
T ree groups, ^inguish three groups of colonies : the South- 
ern, middle, and ^ew England groups. In considering the 
conditions of colonial life, it will be well to make use of 
this classification. 

All of the colonies south of Pennsylvania had many 
characteristics in common. The similarity was due to the 
g , fact that they were founded on slavery.* 

colonies founded There were slaves in all the colonies ; but in the 
on slavery. South slavery directly shaped the industrial 
and social life of the people. In Virginia, in the middle of 
the eighteenth century, one half of the population were 
slaves. South Carolina contained even more negroes than 
white people, and the number was rapidly increasing by 
importations from Africa or the West Indies. In all the 
colonies rigorous laws were passed to guard against a servile 
insurrection; but they do not seem to have been rigidly 
enforced, and on the whole the slaves were well treated. 

The slave does the task assigned him, but does not 
readily change his methods or take up new work. There- 
fore, partly because of slave labor, the Indus- 
Save labor. ^^,.^^^ interests of the South were not diverse. _ 
The great staple product of Maryland and Virginia was > '9 
tobacco. South Carolina raised rice and indigo. All the 

* We should notice, too, that even up to the Revolution convicts were 
shipped from England to America and entered into servitude in the 
colonies. They seem to have been more abundant south of Mason 
and Dixon's line than at the north. We are told that in Maryland 
"not a ship arrives, with either redemptioners or convicts, in which 
schoolmasters are not as regularly advertised for sale as weavers, tail- 
ors, or any other trade." In addition to these convicts in servitude, 
were redemptioners, persons who bound themselves to service for a 
short term of years, generally to pay the expenses of the voyage to 
America. 



154 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Southern colonies were purely agricultural, and they raised 
few products for export. There was almost no manufactur- 
ing. The commonest articles of household use were 
brought from the mother country or from the New Eng- 
land colonies. 

There were in 1760 over three fourths million people 
Hying south of Pennsylvania, and yet Charleston and Balti- 
more were the only cities of any importance 
i^^thfsou^h.^^ south of Philadelphia. Although Virginia was 
the oldest colony, and had a population of 
about five hundred thousand at the end of the colonial 
period, there were no cities and only one large town within 
its borders. In the early days the people were ordered by 
law to build towns, but these paper places never amounted 
to anything. The plantations were the units of Virginia 
life, and by studying them we can see the real social forces 
of the colony. 

In Virginia there were natural or physical reasons for 
the absence of towns and the predominance of country life. 
Reason for ^^^ Tich, fertile soil tempted men to agricultu- 

absence of towns ral life. Moreover, the branching rivers navi- 
m Virginia. gable from the sea served as great highways to 
the interior. Vessels sailed up to the planter's very door 
to discharge their cargoes and to be loaded with tobacco. 
Thomas Jefferson said : " Our country being much inter- 
sected with navigable waters, and trade brought generally 
to our doors instead of our being obliged to go in quest of 
it, has probably been one of the causes why we have no 
towns of any consequence." * 

The large Virginia plantation was a small community 
almost sufficient unto itself. Its center was the large and 

„, , hospitable planter's home, built of wood or 

Theplanter. , .^ a ^ j-i,- • • • i 

brick. Around this imposing mansion clus- 
tered the offices, and not far away was the little village of 
negro cabins. The plantation gave food in profusion ; other 

* Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XII. 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 



155 



necessities and luxuries were brought from England to the 
planter's wharf in exchange for tobacco. Everywhere was 
a look of lavishness and of open, free-handed living in this 
golden age before the Eevolution. Lavishness had already 
in many instances become extravagance. Many a planter 
living in profusion was in debt to an English merchant ; his 
mansion house, with its show of elegance, was out of re- 
pair;* his large band 
of slaves was systemat- 
ically exhausting the 
soil; and there were 
other evidences of waste 
fulness and loose busi- 
ness methods. But it 
was a happy, easy life. 
The jovial planter may 
have been haughty, 
proud, extravagant, and 
perchance impetuous, 
but he was apt to be 

straightforward, hospitable, honest, with a keen sense of 
honor, and a thorough devotion to his rights and liberties. 

Although the great planter was the most important per- 
sonage of colonial Virginia and dominated its social and 
political life, there were others whose presence 
must not be forgotten. There were the fron- 
tiersmen with their small clearings, men who 
were pushing out into what was then the new West, and 
who, earning their bread by their own toil, had little in 
common with the aristocratic planters of the East. Then 
there were the poor whites, reckless, rollicking fellows, 




GuNSTON Hall, the Home of George 
Mason, 



Elements in 
Virginia. 



* " The Virginians," said a traveler, " are not. generally rich, espe- 
cially in net revenue. There one often finds a well-served table covered 
with silver in a room where for ten years half the window panes have 
been missing, and where they will be missed for ten years more." These 
words were written of a somewhat later time, but were true of 1760. 



156 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

many of them, who gathered around the country taverns to 
bet on horse races or to engage in wrestling and gouging 
matches. And, lastly, there was a certain middle class, 
rough, unlettered men, perhaps, but often of sterling worth 
and good stock for a commonwealth. 

The College of William and Mary, established in 1693, 
was the only college in the South. The sons of the great 

planters often studied in Europe, or they were 
Schools and taught by private tutors. The common people 

received little or no education. Libraries and 
other means of education were few. Yet it would be wrong 
to regard the average planter as stupid or ignorant. There 
was much that was invigorating in his life. The sense of 
responsibility and power which he constantly felt, his 
interest in politics, his intercourse with other men, which a 
boundless hospitality encouraged — made him, in spite of 
his somewhat secluded life, a man of strong parts, with a 
knowledge of himself and some skill in dealing with his 
fellows. There was something wholesome in the society 
which in one generation produced several of the great men 
of the world's history. Washington, Jefferson, and Mar- 
shall belong not to Virginia, but to the world. 

The New England colonies at the end of the French 
War had a population of nearly six hundred thousand, 
Massachusetts alone having almost three hun- 
ng an . ^^^^ thousand inhabitants. These colonies 
differed somewhat from one another in their social, indus- 
trial, and political makeup ; but on the whole they were 
much alike, while they presented many sharp contrasts to 
the colonies of the South. The population was of almost 
pure English blood. There were a few slaves, 
opn a ion. :^^^ slavery did not materially affect the condi- 
tions of life or change the development of the colonies. 
" Originally settled," said a contemporary writer, " by the 
same kind of people, a similar policy naturally rooted in all 



CONDITION OP THE COLONIES IN 1760. I57 

the colonies of New England. Their forms of government, 
their laws, their courts of justice, their manners, and their 
religious tenets, which gave birth to all these, were nearly 
the same." 

The isolated life of the plantation was unknown in New 
England ; the small farmer was within sound of the church 
bell and within reach of a schoolhouse. There 
were many causes for this concentration of pop- 
ulation. Some were natural or physical causes, some sprang 
from the purposes and character of the colonists. The 
chief reasons were the following : 1. The long and dreary 
winter of New England brought the people together for 
companionship and protection. 2. The soil was poor, and 
yielded its crops only to the diligent toiler ; it did not by its 
fertility beguile man to easy agriculture ; he was tempted to 
become a trader or a mechanic. 3. Since the sea was more 
fruitful than the land, little fishing villages dotted the 
coasts. 4. The rivers were many of them rapid and narrow, 
well suited to turn the mill wheel, but not serving as high- 
ways from the sea. 5. For a century before the Revolution 
the Indian was a constant source of fear, and this dread 
induced the frontiersman not to move too far from the vil- 
lage and the common defenses. 6. Moreover, the early 
settlers were men of intense religious conviction and pur- 
pose ; they came to worship together, and in consequence 
the first settlements were clustered around the meeting- 
house. 7. In many instances, too, the people had been 
moved by a common interest to emigrate from " dear Eng- 
land," and they therefore settled together as a community 
to live out together a common life. The town was, as a 
consequence, almost from the outset the most noticeable 
thing in the social and political structure of the colony. 

While Virginia was almost solely given up to agricul- 
ture, the New England States had various industries. 
Farming, of course, occupied a great portion of the popula- 
tion; but, especially in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 
12 



158 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

some persons engaged in manufacturing. Every Kew Eng- 

lander, taught by stern necessity, became a mechanic more 

or less "handy with his tools." Had it not 

Varied heen for the repressive policy of the mother 

mdustnesi ± ^ 

country, the hum of the busy factory wheels 

would have been heard along many of the swift water courses 
that were ready to give their force for the asking. As it 
was, something was done : linens and woolens were woven ; 
the smith and tanner plied their trades ; homely articles of 
daily use were made by the farmer and his sons, and the 
housewife prepared the simple homespun. 
^ Many were interested in ocean commerce, and were 

showing a skill that has become proverbial in all the arts of 
trade. Shipbuilding had grown to be a great 
ommerce. industry. With their own ships the hardy Yan- 
kee seamen made long voyages. Before the end of the sev- 
enteenth century they sailed along the coast of the South- 
ern States in their little sloops and ketches. The trade 
with the West Indies came to be of great importance. Car- 
goes of fish and lumber were taken to the islands, and sugar 
or molasses was brought back. Voyages to the countries of 
southern Europe were not uncommon.* Thus it will be 
seen that before the Eevolution the Isew England colonies 
had developed a wide commerce, and established a founda- 
tion for a broad and varied industrial life. 

JS'ew England was founded by men full of religious en- 
thusiasm. Throughout its colonial existence its religious 
beliefs strongly affected the manners and habits of the peo- 

* " No sea," exclaimed Burke, " but what is vexed by their fisheries. 
No climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance 
of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm 
sagacity of English enterprise, ever carried this most perilous mode of 
industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent 
people — a people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet 
hardened into the bone of manhood." These words were spoken of the 
colonies in general, but are especially true of the New England colonies. 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 159 

pie. Religion was part of the daily social life of the Puritan ; 
it was not something set apart for Sundays and fast days. 

By the middle of the eighteenth century other 
e igion. elements than the strictly puritanic were every- 

where visible, but society was still largely ruled by the 
early conceptions. Life was still running in the channels 
marked out by the founders of the colony. The Puritan 
faith was firmly held by strong men, and its believers helped 
to form as sound and virile a community as the world could 
show. In early times churchgoing was the chief occupation 
of Sunday. The churches were not heated in winter, but 
the devoted congregation seemed not to be disturbed by 
cold. One of this old, hardy school, writing in 1716, tells 
of the bread's being frozen at the communion table, and 
says : " Though it was so cold, yet John Tuckerman was 
baptized. At six o'clock my ink freezes so that I can hard- 
ly write by a good fire in my wife's chamber. Yet was very 
comfortable at meeting." One must honor the steadfast 
earnestness which warmed this good man. From such firm 
believers in what they believed, and sturdy doers of what 
they thought right, came many of those who in later years 
laid the foundations of the republic. 

" The public institutions in New England for the educa- 
tion of youth, supporting colleges at the public expense, 

and obliging towns to maintain grammar 
uca ion, schools, are not equaled, and never were, in any 

part of the world."* Thus John Adams forcibly stated 
one great fact that lay at the bottom of New England's 
worth. The colonies were founded by men who respected 
learning. In the middle of the eighteenth century illiter- 
acy was almost unknown. Each man could read his Bible ; 
he could read his books on politics as well as religion. 
Burke says that almost as many copies of Blackstone's 
Commentaries were sold in America as in England, and 

* Familiar Letters of John Adams, p. 120. 



160 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

General Gage wrote from Boston that the people in his 
government were either lawyers or smatterers in law. 
" This study," says Burke, " renders men acute, inquisitive, 
dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defense, full of re- 
sources." When Great Britain determined to coerce Massa- 
chusetts, she arrayed against herself the most enlightened 
and intelligent population on the face of the earth. 

Politically New England was nearly a pure democracy. 

Socially it was democratic in comparison with Europe or 

with the colonies of the South. The New Eng- 

Classes of ^j^j^^j^ villasfe, with its wide street, its rows of 

society I ^ . . 

comfortable houses, and its big roomy yards, 

declared more plainly than words that no feudal system 
had ever laid its burden on the people. It was clear also 
that the aristocracy of the plantation had no place there. 
And yet, though few had anything that could be called 
riches, and none need be poor, there were social differences 
in New England. Some families were entitled to distinc- 
tion. The best pews in church were reserved for them ; 
they were treated with deference and respect. The " old 
families" were preferred to the "newcomers." Society 
was divided into gentlemen, yeomen, merchants, and me- 
chanics, but the lines were not sharply drawn. Such prim- 
itive variations from pure democracy seem quaint and 
trivial. One would greatly err, however, if he believed that 
these social distinctions did not influence the development 
of our history. 

Before the outbreak of the Eevolution the population 

of the middle colonies had reached four hundred thousand. 

Many different nationalities were represented. 

The middle ^^ie emigrants from the countries of Conti- 
colomes. ® 

nental Europe having come in larger numbers 

to these colonies than to others. Though agriculture here, 
as elsewhere, was of chief importance. New York and Phila- 
delphia were thriving towns with considerable foreign com- 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 



161 




Education, 



New York City in 1732, from Brooklyn Heights 

merce. In Pennsylvania manufacturing was begun, giving 
prophecy of the immense development of the future. 

The middle colonies had no such facilities for education 
and no such devotion to learning as the New England colo- 
nies. In New York was King's College, estab- 
lished about the middle of the century. It was 
not largely attended, and did not materially affect the ideals 
of the colony. The lower schools throughout the province 
were neither good nor plentiful. In New Jersey, thanks to 
the large New England element that had settled there, a 
few good schools were found. ' Princeton College was found- 
ed by the Presbyterians in 1746,/ and at the outbreak of the 
Revolution, though still small, it was an influential and 
thrifty institution. Philadelphia possessed two public libra- 
ries besides many excellent private ones, filled with copies of 
the classics of the time. The University of Pennsylvania 
was already founded and was in a flourishing condition, the 
most important and influential college in the Middle States, 
and hardly second to the New England colleges. 

Of all the northern colonies New York had the nearest 
approach to an aristocracy. There was a class of great land- 
holders possessed of vast estates. These men had much 
political and social influence. They towered above their 
neighbors. Some of the estates had been established in 



162 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



New York 
aristocracy 




Dutch times, and some of tlieir holders were descendants of 
men upon whom the old West India Company had lavished 

its grants. Spite 

of this aristocracy, 

the great control- 
ling sentiment of the colony was 
democratic, and petty class dis- 
tinctions were sure in time to 
fall before the rising tide of 
democracy. 

Pennsylvania, on the other 
hand, was free from aristocratic 

burdens. "InPenn- 

Democracyin gylvania," said Al- 
Pennsylvania, *^ ' 

bert Gallatin at a 

later day, " not only we have 

neither Livingstons nor Eensse- 

laers,* but from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the Ohio I 

do not know a single family that has any extensive influ- 
ence. An equal distri- 
bution of property has 
rendered every individ- 
ual independent, and 
there is among us true 
and real equality." The 
people were sober-mind- 
ed, conservative. If 
other colonies were has- 
ty, Pennsylvania was de- 
liberate. To the more 
fiery colonies of the 
South and North she 
seemed at times phleg- 
matic and devoid of 
spirit. But Pennsylva- 

* Two of the great New York families. 




il^' 



The Birthplace of Benjamin Fkank- 
LiN, IN Boston. 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 163 

nia cherished her liberties and knew how to defend them. 
The success of the American republic was to depend largely 
on the good sense and liberality of democratic Pennsylvania. 

If we. should confine our attention solely to the cen- 
tral government of each colony, we should get but a faint 
idea of the political life of the American colonists. Kep- 

resentative assemblies were, as we have seen, 

alert and active ; they show that the people 
were alive to political questions ; they stand out sharply 
in contrast with the government of Canada, where power 
was despotic. But the virility of American politics is per- 
haps even more clearly seen in the local organizations. There 
were three systems of local government : a^ the township ; 
&, the county; c, a mixture' of the two. The IS'ew England 
colonies had the town, the Southern colonies the county, 
and the middle colonies the mixed system. 

The town grew up naturally in New England. The peo- 
ple of each small community governed themselves. All the 
little affairs of the neighborhood were the concern of the 

town meeting.* There was nothing beyond its 
m?nd^^'^ reach. It sought to know " the town's mind," 

and to declare it. Each man was entitled to 
take part in its sturdy discussions, and each was expected 
to bow to the decision of the town. Selectmen were elected 
to have general charge of town affairs ; and a clerk,f whose 
duties were various, and a constable were also chosen. Be- 

* The town played an important part in its relation to the govern- 
ment of the colony, but its local duties were chief in its own eyes doubt- 
less. An example of thorough local legislation is illustrated by the 
following : " It is ordered that all doggs, for the space of three weeks 
after the publishinge hereof, shall have one legg tied up. ... If a man 
refuse to tye up his dogg's legg and he bee found scraping up fish in the 
corne field, the owner shall pay 12s. besides whatever damage the dogg 
doth." Quoted in Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, 
pp. 144, 145. 

f Not simply the orders of the town meeting were written in his 



164 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

sides these officers there were many others. Some were 
regularly and annually elected, others because of a tem- 
porary need. The titles and duties of these men bring be- 
fore us the readiness of the town to express its " mind " on 
any subject of common interest. Among them we find 
tithing men ; fence viewers ; hog reeves ; measurers of 
wood ; overseers of measurers of wood ; men to take " care 
of the Ale wives not Being stoped from going up the Eevers 
to cast their sporns"; men to prevent cheating by those 
who sold lumber, " because bundles of shingles are marked 
for a greater number than what they contain " ; wardens to 
inspect " y® meeting Hous on y® Lord's Day and see to Good 
Order among y® Boys " ; cattle pounders ; sealers of leather ; 
gamekeepers " to Bee the men for Prevesation of the Deare 
for the year Insuing." 

Here, then, men learned the art of government, and 
they learned the lessons of* obedience as well. The New 
A school of Englander did not gain his ideas of govern- 

practicai ment from books; he based his theories on 

poitics. practice and experience. The town meeting 

was his school. Men thus trained could not accept tyranny ; 
accustomed to govern themselves, they were ready to re- 
sent the slightest encroachment upon their rights. 

The South did not have the town. Its method of set^ 
tlement had not naturally produced it. The nearest ap- 
proach to the town of New England was the 
parish of Virginia ; but its functions were few, 
and its duties were in the hands of select vestrymen. The 
Virginia county was the organ of local government. The 
population of a county was not large, perhaps no greater 

books ; but births, deaths, and marriages, transfer of pews in the meet- 
inghouse, estrays taken up, as " a Red Stray Hefar two years old and 
she hath sum white In the face." He wrote down, too, the earmarks 
of the farmers' cattle. "Joshua Brigs mark Is a Scware Crop In the 
under side of ye Right ear." See the delightful account in Bliss, Colo- 
nial Times on Buzzard's Bay, chap. vi. 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 165 

than that of an average N'ew England town ; but the people 
were scattered, and popular gatherings were inconvenient. 
Most important of all is the fact that the 
e coun y. county ofRcers were appointed by the royal 
governor, and were not the agents of the people. Its vari- 
ous officers thus represented the power of the common- 
wealth, not of the locality ; or, more correctly, they repre- 
sented the power of the Crown in the colony. Were it not 
for the sterling, vigorous independence begotten by the free- 
dom of Virginia life, one might fancy that under such a 
system free institutions would be in danger of extinction. 
Yet it must be remembered that this local authority was in 
the hands of men chosen by the governor from the neigh- 
borhood, not strangers or creatures of a foreign power, and 
Results of ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ under which they acted were 

the political made by the people's own representatives.* 
organization. q^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ followed— practice in ad- 
ministrative government fell to a select few; the colonies 
were governed by the conspicuous planters, who felt their 
aptitude for rule. Moreover, the colony, as the source of 
power, impressed itself strongly upon the minds of its citi- 
zens. Jefferson thus expressed his appreciation of Virgin- 
ia's lack of proper local organization : " Those wards, called 
townships in New England, are the vital principle of their 
government, and have proved themselves the wisest inven- 
tion ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise 
of self-government, and for its preservation." 
^^^ In the middle colonies neither the county system of 
Virginia nor the town system of New England prevailed, 
but a mixture of the two. There were counties and towns 
in both Pennsylvania and New York. In Pennsylvania the 
county officers were chosen by popular election, but the 

* "The centralized system created able political leaders, just as the 
town meeting created a well-trained democracy, while the forces of 
American life tended to carry both alike against Crown and Parlia- 
ment." (Hinsdale, The American Government.) 



166 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

township had also its duties. In New York the towns were 

of some importance and influence, but the most conspicu- 
ous feature of the system of this colony was the 

The middle election of supervisors by the towns to form a 
representative body to regulate the affairs of 

the county. 

These three systems of local government are of more 

than mere historic interest, because, as the country has 
grown, each has played its part in the local 

Influence of organization of the new States. Speaking gen- 

tnese systems. ® r n r> 

erally, one may say that the various systems 

have been carried westward along the parallels of latitude. 
The town prevails to-day in the Northern States west of 
the Alleghanies, the county in the Southern States. The 
method of connecting the town with the county by the elec- 
tion of supervisors has, moreover, been widely adopted, espe- 
cially in the Northern States westward to the Pacific. 

There was great general similarity in the form and 
methods of colonial government. Yet, as we have already 
seen, there were differences. The colonies may 
Governments. ^® classified as follows : (a) Royal, (b) proprie- 
tary, and (c) charter colonies. In the first the 
governor was appointed by the Crown, and could veto laws 
of the assembly ; the form of government had no guaranty 
by the terms of a written charter. In the second there was 
a proprietor, who appointed the governor and had other 
rights.* In the third the people had a charter from the 
Crown, in which certain privileges, such as the right to 
elect their own officers, were granted them. The royal 
colonies were (1775) Georgia, South Carolina, North Caro- 
lina, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire. 
At the outbreak of the Revolution, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
and Maryland were proprietary colonies. Connecticut and 
Ehode Island were possessed of liberal charters which con- 

* See the accounts of Maryland and Pennsylvania. 



CONDITION OP THE COLONIES IN 1760. 167 

stituted them practically into little self-governing republics. 
Massachusetts had also a charter, and may be classed with 
the last two as a charter colony ; but, on the other hand, 
the governor was a royal appointee, and thus it may more 
correctly be considered a semi-royal colony. The organiza- 
tion of each colony was strikingly like that of every other. 
Each had a governor, a council whose duties were partly 
advisory, partly legislative, and generally also judicial, and 
a popular house based on popular but by no means universal 
manhood suffrage. Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Georgia 
had only one legislative house.* 

Everywhere in the colonies the spirit of liberty was 

" fierce." f The temper and character of the people made 

the broad foundation for free government. " In 

The spint of ^j^-g character of the Americans a love of free- 

liDerty. 

dom is the predominating feature which marks 

and distinguishes the whole ; and as an ardent is always a 
jealous affection, your colonies become suspicious, restive, 
and untractable whenever they see the least attempt to 
wrest from them by force or shuffle from them by chicane 
what they think the only advantage worth living for. This 
fierce spirit of liberty is stronger in the English colonies 
probably than in any other people of the earth." Filled 
with this fierce spirit of liberty, the colonies were sure to 
break away from the mother country whenever she aban- 
doned her wise neglect and assumed the right to dictate or 
control. Their governments were already so organized that 
a change in the monarchical head would cause no violent 
shock, no great disruption in daily life and industry. Popu- 
lar governors might take the place of royal favorites, and 
popular wishes might be more readily carried into effect, 
but the political training of the people gave assurance that, 



* An admirable treatment of colonial, general and local govern- 
ment is in Hinsdale, The American Government, chap. ii. 

f Burke, Speech on Conciliation with America, Works, ii, p. 120. 



168 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



though there might be danger of occasional violence and 
turbulence, revolution would not mean dissolution, anarchy, 
or riot. 

References. 

Channing, The United States of America, Chapter I ; Lodge, 
Short History, Chapters II, IV, VI, VHI, X, XIII, XV, XVII, 
XXII (a series of very valuable chapters) ; Fisher, Colonial Era, 
Chapter XXI ; Hart, Formation of the Union, Chapter I (1750) ; 
Hinsdale, The American Government, pp. 36-51 ; Cooke, Virginia, 
pp. 364-374; Hosmer, Samuel Adams, Chapter XXIII. Use espe- 
cially Hart, Source Book of American History. 




William and Mary College, Williamsbueg, Va. 
From an old print. 



CHAPTER VIIL 
Causes of the Revolution. 

The close of tlie French and Indian wars found Eng- 
land elated and jubilant. She had established an immense 
empire. The long struggle for the possession 

England's ^£ America was over. In India, too, she had 

new duties. . 

gamed a secure foothold. Her expansion and 
development during the last hundred years was marvelous. 
But her great success brought new duties and dangers. 
Could she rule wisely and well these vast colonial posses- 
sions ? Could she adapt herself to her new situation ? She 
was no longer girt about by "the four seas"; her tasks 
were world-wide. To solve' her problems she must appre- 
ciate their difficulty, and act with rare wisdom and sense. 

But England inwardly was not in a healthy condition. 
She was entering upon a period of industrial growth and 
prosperity ; the period of stagnation was be- 
STrnd.^'^"" hind her, but her political system had not de- 
veloped to keep pace with the growth of her 
people. The great underlying principles of her Constitu- 
tion were good, and on them a free popular government 
could be reared. Now, however, her government was in 
reality aristocratic, not popular. The whole system of 
representation had become utterly wrong and foolish. She 
still clung to the doctrine that money must be voted by the 
people's representatives — the House of Commons. But the 
house did not rest on the votes of the whole people, or 
even, indeed, on a large part of them. Large and thriving 

169 



lYO 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 




cities were without the right to send members to Parlia- 
ment, while little boroughs of a few houses had such right, 

simply because they had long 
ago acquired it. These little 
places were often willing to sell 
their votes, or to cast them as 
directed by some nobleman who 
had control of the people. Eng- 
land needed to popularize Parlia- 
ment and bring her government 
into closer relations with the 
people before she could wisely 
govern free Englishmen in the 
^ ^ — ,,^ colonies, who were accustomed 

/^/ ) to think and act for themselves. 

>^ ^M^-'Vy^^.tiJ ^ It is probably true that, in 

^ , spite of these absurdities and 
faults in the representative system, the will of the people 
of Great Britain was not ill set forth in the House of Com- 
mons ; yet it is clear that representation in 

American idea of . . , ,,, . -..^^ , „ , , 

representation America meant something dircerent from what 
compared with it meant in England, and that the American 
ng s 1 ea, gygtem was more reasonable and right. In 
each of the colonies there was an assembly made up of men 
taken from the body of the people. The people of each 
representative district felt that they had thus a part in 
making the body that made the laws. In England, on the 
other hand, men were supposed to be represented in the 
House of Commons, even though great and populous sec- 
tions had no participation in the election. For this and 



* Henry played a great part in the events that led to separation 
from Great Britain. He was one of the greatest orators America has 
produced. George Mason, himself a man of ability, said : " He is by 
far the most powerful speaker I ever heard. But his eloquence is the 
smallest part of his merit. He is, in my opinion, the first man upon 
this continent as well in abilities as public virtues." 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. lYl 

other reasons England could not fully appreciate American 
sentiment. Englishmen held that America was represented 
in the English Parliament, because it was the Parliament 
of the empire. An American colonist could not understand 
that sort of representation. In other ways the colonists gov- 
erned themselves more fully than the people of England 
governed themselves. A revolution set in and the two 
peoples were torn apart, largely because England had now 
fallen behind the colonists in her appreciation of doctrines 
of political liberty and her application of them. 

Moreover, George III had just come to the throne with 
strong ideas of the kingly prerogative. He aimed to con- 
trol Parliament more fully than had been done 
The king and ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ revolution (1688). He had 
his mends. . ° ^ ' 

built up a faction of personal supporters, 

known as the " king's friends." He sought to manage the 
ministry to suit his own desires. If this coalition between 
an aristocratic Parliament, a ministry founded on bribery, 
and a designing king were once fully formed, the liberties 
of England were in danger, perhaps were already a thing 
of the past. And so America was to fight for English as 
well as American liberty. " America," exclaimed the great 
Pitt, the true founder of this new British empire, " Amer- 
ica, if she fell, would fall like the strong man with his arms 
around the pillars of the Constitution." 

An idea prevailed in England that the colonies were the 
property of the mother country, that they existed for her. 
Men did not think of the colonists as English- 
The idea of men, separated indeed from the old country by 
owners p. ^^^^^ thousand miles of water, but Englishmen 

still. They did not conceive of America simply as an ex- 
pansion of England. They thought of England's owning 
the colonies, and too often seemed to think that she owned 
the colonists. Thus the whole basis of relationship was 
wrong. This is not to be wondered at. Such notions had 
prevailed in Europe since Spain had obtained her colonial 



172 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

"possessions." Natural as this feeling was, it prevented 

the English people from treating the restive Americans 

with fairness and with the consideration that was their 

due. " Every man in England," said Franklin, " seems to 

jostle himself into the throne with the king and talks about 

our subjects in America." 

Up to this time (1760) the mother country had not tried 

to tax the colonies directly, or to interfere with their local 

concerns. External trade had been regulated 

sensible somewhat, and was srenerally conceded to be a 

compromise. ' . 

matter for the English Government. But in 

internal affairs the colonies largely managed their own con- 
cerns. The colonies had, as we have often said, flourished 
in neglect.* When it was suggested to wise old Eobert 
Walpole that he tax the colonies, he exclaimed, " What ! I 
have old England set against me, and do you think I will 
have new England likewise ? " England should have rested 
content with this practical and sensible compromise. It 
might be asserted that it was illogical, and that the British 
Parliament was supreme over the colonies, and had as good 
right to pass laws for the internal management of the 
colonies as to make regulations for external trade. But it 
was not a question of logic ; it was a question of common 
sense. 

As early as 1651, in the time of Cromwell, England legis- 
lated in behalf of English commerce to cut off any profit 
there might be to foreign countries in trading 
kws.'''''^^^^'°'' with her colonies. After this time laws multi- 
plied, all directed toward the same end, namely, 
the holding of the entire colonial commerce in her own 
hands. Only English or colonial ships could carry on 
colonial trade ; the most important products of the colonies 

* " The colonies," said Burke, '* in general owe little or nothing to 
any care of ours, . . . but through a wise and salutary neglect a gen- 
erous nature has been suffered to take her own way to perfection." 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 173 

could be carried only to England, and — perhaps most im- 
portant of all — foreign goods could not be brought to the 
colonies except under heavy duty, unless first shipped from 
an English port. In other words, the colonies were re- 
stricted to the English market and to English carriers, save 
where they had their own vessels; and they were not 
allowed to import foreign goods save by using the English 
merchants as their factors. Moreover, trade between the 
colonies was restricted. In addition to all this, acts had 

been passed to stamp out the beginnings of 

American manufactures in order that the 
colonies might be dependent on England for supplies. It 
must be said that other countries with colonial possessions 
treated their colonists with less consideration than England 
did. In some respects English legislation favored colonial 
enterprise, and up to the time of the last French war the 
laws do not seem to have injured the colonies materially. 
An attempt to enforce them, however, and to secure not 
simply a monopoly of American trade but to obtain revenue, 
irritated the colonies and helped to bring on disaster. 

The navigation laws had not been rigidly enforced. 
They were constantly broken. But now, before the end of 

the French war, the ministry became infatuated 
Wnts of ^j^]-^ ^i^Q ^^Q^ ^f stopping this lawlessness and 

enforcing the acts. One of the means em- 
ployed was the issuing of general warrants to search for 
smuggled goods. These warrants were called " writs of 
assistance." Such a writ gave general and not particular 
instruction to the revenue officers. It was good for an in- 
definite time, and might serve as authority for search in any 
suspected place. Such a power in the hands of an officer 
is dangerous to liberty.* In 1761 a great case arose. James 
Otis, a young and brilliant lawyer, argued before the 

* Notice the Constitution of the United States, Amendments, 
Article IV, where general warrants are made illegal. 
13 



174 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 




Superior Court of Massachusetts against the validity of 
these writs. He declared that to use them was an act of 
tyranny such as had " cost one king 
of England his head, and another 
his throne." He declaimed against 
the acts of trade which imposed 
" intolerable taxes," and inveighed 
against "the tyranny of taxation 
without representation." "Then 
and there," said John Adams, "was 
the first scene of the first act of 
opposition to the arbitrary claims 
of Great Britain. Then and there 
the child of Independence was 
born." 

Shortly after this Patrick 
Henry made a great speech in 
Virginia. A statute had been passed by the Virginia 
Legislature that materially lessened the income of the 
clergymen, which was payable in tobacco. This 
The parson's ^^^ ^^g declared void by royal authority in 
England. A clergyman now brought suit to 
obtain his dues under the law as it existed before this 
statute was passed. Henry was retained for the defense, 
and poured out his torrents of new-found eloquence in 
defense of the right of the colonial- legislature to pass such 
hiws as it chose, without reference to the gracious per- 
mission of the English king. He declared " that a king, 
by disallowing acts of this salutary nature, from being the 
father of his people degenerates into a tyrant, and forfeits all 
right to his subjects' obedience." The jury brought in a 
verdict of one penny damage for the poor parson. Thus it 
appears that in Massachusetts and in Virginia popular 
young orators were ready to preach a doctrine that savored 
of rebellion. The Americans were then faithful subjects 
of King George, but Henry struck the keynote of colonial 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 175 

politics wlien he asserted that the test of a law's validity 
was not the kingly sanction, but the people's desire.* 

George Grenville f is said to have brought on the Amer- 
ican war because he read the colonial dispatches. Other 
ministers had been content to let the colonies 

Grenville . t , • i , i i « 

determines to go their own Way, and to wmk at breaches of 
enforce the laws, ^j-^g navigation laws. Grenville began to ex- 
amine into their affairs and to study their condition. He 
resolved to enforce the revenue acts,]; using, if need be, the 
royal navy for the purpose. This was sure to bring on dis- 
turbance, for an enforcement of the Sugar Act alone 
would be a great hardship to New England, because 
it would damage a lucrative commerce with the West 
Indies. 

Grenville also saw that the colonies were prosperous and 
rich. The English Government had expended vast sums 
of money in the late war, and it seemed to him only just 
that, inasmuch as the colonies had profited by the destruc- 
tion of the French power, they should now pay for their 
own protection. In accordance with his recommendation 
Parliament passed a Stamp Act. It provided that bills, 
notes, marriage certificates, legal documents, etc., should 

be written only on stamped paper. The rev- 
1765^*^°^^^^*' ®^^^^ obtained from the sale of stamps was to 

be used for colonial defense. The plan was 
not devised for enriching the mother country at the ex- 
pense of the colonies ; for it was fully expected that the tax 
would yield not more than £100,000 — less than one third 

* Tyler's Patrick Henry, chap, iv, gives a picturesque account of this 
famous case. 

f First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
1763-'65. 

X " The customhouses were to be something more than cosy nooks 
on the wharves where holders of sinecures might doze comfortably; the 
ships of war everywhere were to be instructed to enforce the revenue 
laws." (Hosmer, Life of Thomas Hutchinson, p. 53.) 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 



177 



the amount England must expend to protect America 
efficiently from foreign in-vasion or Indian uprising. It 
can not be said, therefore, that the law was an act of 
greed, or of tyranny. But the colonists resented it; it 
ran counter to all their practices and principles. Their 
love of liberty was "fixed and attached on this specific 
point of taxing." * 

The Stamp Act alarmed America. The Virginia As- 
sembly adopted resolutions, offered and eloquently sup- 
ported by Patrick Henry, declaring that " tax- 
The Stamp Act ^^[qj^ ^f people by themselves or by persons 
chosen by themselves to represent them . . . 
is the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and 
without which the ancient constitution can not subsist." 
The Massachusetts rep- ^^ h E Lieutenakt Governor 

I declares he will do nothing in 

^ Relation to the S'i'AMPS, but 

leave it to Sir Henry Moore, to do as 

he pleafes, on his Arrival. Council 

Chamber, New-York, Nov. 2^ 1765. 

By Order of his Honour, 

Gw. Banyar, D. CI. Con. 

The Governor acquainted Judge Li' 

rnigftouy liie Mayor, Mr. Beverly Robins 

Indians, and all else had •>f^.»^^^^;>^ ^TV^^^ ^u^^^l 
' being Monday the 4th of November, that 

he would not iffue, nor fuffer to be if- 

fued, any of the STAMPS now in ^ort- 

George. Robert R, Lmngfion^ 

John Cruger, 

Beverly Rolinfon^ 

John Stevens. 

The Freemen, Freeholders, and In- 
habitants of this City, being fatisfied that 
the STAMPS are not to be iffued» are 
determined to keep the Peace of the Ci- 
ty, at all Events, except they fliould 
have other Caufe of Complaint 
Handbill issued in New York to 

Allay Excitement and Check 

EiOTOUS Opposition to the Stamp 

Act. 



resentatives called for a 
general congress of the 
colonies. In October 
(1765) delegates from 
nine colonies assembled 
in New York. Fear of 
the French, dread of the 



hitherto not brought 
about union. Now in 
a moment, when their 
chosen liberties were 
threatened, they came 
together. The congress 
drew up memorials ad- 
dressed to the Eng- 
lish Government, and a 
"Declaration of Rights 
and Grievances of the 
Colonists in America." 



* Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America. 



178 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

But resistance to the Stamp Act was not all by remon- 
strance. In Boston during the summer there was disorder. 
The stamp collector was hanged in effigy ; the 
Disorder and house of Chief-Justice Hutchinson was sacked. 

riotsi 

Other acts of violence occurred. Though the 
town meeting of Boston expressed its " abhorrence " of such 
conduct, it was clear that there were some who did not 
distinguish between orderly and disorderly resistance. 'New 
York was the headquarters of the English army in America ; 
but here, too, there were mobs. There was strong evidence 
everywhere that the act could be enforced only at the point 
of the bayonet^ if at all. Societies were organized, called 
" Sons of Liberty," pledged to resist the obnoxious law. 
Many entered into agreements not to use British goods. 

Meanwhile, there was amazement and discomfiture in 
England. The merchants began to feel a loss of trade. 
Grenville had resigned before he could see the 
^**^ d^* consequence of his own well-meaning folly. A 

new ministry was confronted with serious diffi- 
culties. America seemed actually on the verge of open 
violence and resistance. A great debate took place in 
Parliament. William Pitt, who for some time had been 
kept by illness from his place in the House, now appeared 
to support the colonial cause. He declared that there was 
a plain distinction between " taxes levied for the purpose of 
raising revenue and duties imposed for the regulation of 
trade." He insisted that internal taxation without repre- 
sentation was tyranny, and, if the Americans yielded, it 
would be an evil omen for English liberty. " The gentle- 
men tell us," he exclaimed, " America is obstinate ; America 
IS in open rebellion. I rejoice that America has resisted." 
The act was repealed. There was great rejoicing on both 
sides of the ocean. 

Had England been content with this comfortable re- 
treat all would have been well. But new acts were soon 
passed quite as obnoxious as the old. The opponents of 



Glorious News. 

BOSTON, Friday ri o'clock, 1 6th May 1766. 
7HIS Inftant arrived here the Brig Harril'on, belonging 
to yo/:H Haricock, Efq; Captain Shiibael Ccffin^ in 6 
Weeks and 2 Days from London, with importaQt 
News, as follows. 

From the London Gazkttb. 
pyeftminjler , " M<rch r 8 1 h , 1 7 6 6. 

THIS Jay his M.ijcfly cnmc ro tfi£ Koufe of Peers. anJ bein(» In his royaj 
robes leatcd on ihe throne ^mih tiic M(nA rolcnuiity, Sir Francis Moll* 
neux. Gentleman Uilier of the Black Rx^d, was lent wuh a Mcfljgo 
from hrt IV3.ijelly to tlic Hoiife of Coithhoos, coninnn<]iiig their a\tcn- 
tInnCL* in rhc Houfc of Peers. Tlic Comrnons being come thitlier accordingly, 
l;j3 Majefly was pTcafcd to give his roynl aircnrto 

An ACTfo REPEAL an A(!> tnadc in the Ld Scdion of P.nliamcnf, in* 
t«fuIcH.an A^ for granting r>nJ applying certain Stamp- DiUics and other Duties 
in (!ic Britifh Colonics and Pbnta'iuns in America, towanli further defrayinf* 
the ex ;)cnces of defending, protcc>ing and fcctiring the fame, and for amending 
fuch parts of the fcvcral Afls ol Parliament reJanng to the trade and revenues 
of the hid Colonies and Pl.mtanons, as dire(f} the manner of Jeiermining and 
fccovci ing the penalties and torreitures therein, mentioned. 
Aifo fen public bills, and fcrenicen prjvat&oncs. 



When the KING *cnt to tiie Houfc of Peers togivc the RoyalAfTcnt. there 
was fucli a vaO Concoiirleo* Pci;plc huz/aing, clapping Hands, ^c. ilut it 
was federal Hours befpic His Ma'jtHy reached tl'c Honlc. 

[mmediatelyoD His Majcltv'i Signing the Royal Alfcnt to the {Repeal of the 
Stamp-Aft.the Merchants trading to .America. difpatchcd a VcfTcl wiiich had been 
in waiting, ro pot intothe firft Port on tiic Corttiftcnt wit!) tlic .>ccounr. , 

Tlicre were tlic grntell kcjoicmgs pofTible irt thcCicy of London, by all Ranks 
of People, on the TOTAL Repeal of the S:amp-AfJ. — the Ships in the River 
dTlplayed ati thcrrCr^ouiSi llj.in..;u(i5>ns 2nd.B"nhrc<! in many Parts. — • In 
(hurt, the Rr-jo'cings were as great as W33 CTcr known on any Occafion. 

It is fakJ the AAs of Trade relating to America would be taken under Con* 
fideratioD. and all Gricvanccs-removcd. The Fncnds lo America arc very pow- 
erful, and difpofcd ro affill us to rhg utfooft of their Ability. 

Capt. Blake failed the fame Day (vith Capt. CofRn, and Capt. Shand a Fort* 
oigln before him, both boui^d to thi«; Porr. 

It is impojfihlc to exprefs the Joy the Toi»n if ti')w tn, en receiving the 
ab'jve, great, f^lorhus and important N ElVS—Thc Belli n 'II the Churches 
wer; imrnediately fet a Ringing, and we heOt the "Day for a general Rejoicing 
will be the beginning of next IJ'^eek. 
■ vyvX/ L/^y-v; — ■ -< 

ParNTED for the Bcueiit of the PUBLIC, by 
Drapers, Ede\ Sc GiU, Green & Rujfell^ and Fleets, 
The Cuflouiers 10 the BoftonPapers may have the abov: gratis ai tbacfpc^ive 

Handbill announcixg Eepeal of the Stamp Act. 



180 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



the Stamp Act had declared that England could not im- 
pose a direct tax, but could regulate the external trade of 
the colonies. Charles Townshend, a brilliant, 
Jets IvTt'^'''^ flippant man, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
proposed to levy duties on goods imported into 
the colonies, as a fair example of external regulation. The 
act was passed laying an import duty on tea, paints, paper, 
glass, and red and white lead. The writs of assistance 

were declared legal. The rev- 
enue was to be used to pay the 
salaries of the judges and roy- 
al governors in America. From 
what we have seen of the strug- 
gles of the colonial assemblies 
in the eighteenth century, we 
may be sure that the object of 
the duty rendered it doubly dis- 
agreeable ; if money were thus 
expended, the governors and 
judges would be entirely re- 
moved from popular control. 
Added to this grievance was 
the fact that about this time 
Parliament suspended the legis- 
lative functions of the New 
York Assembly, because it had 
not made suitable provision for quartering the British 
troops. 

The colonists protested against the Townshend acts. 
There was a clear practical distinction between "regula- 
tion " and duties for revenue. Samuel Adams, 
protMta. " ^^® ^^^ ^^ ^^® town meeting," was now clerk 

of the Massachusetts Assembly. In this posi- 
tion he was active in keeping resentment at the proper 
pitch. He wrote a series of addresses that were issued by 
the Assembly. The most important document of all was a 




^^^^^^J^ 



>^^;?^y 



^ 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 181 

circular letter sent to the other colonies asking co-operation 
and consultation. John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, wrote 
at this time the famous "Farmer's Letters," full of good 
sense and shrewd reasoning. " English history," he hinted, 
"affords examples of resistance." Non-importation and 
non-consumption agreements were entered into. Some 
revenue was obtained under the act, but the net returns 
were a mere trifle. Troops were sent to Boston in the 
autumn of 1768. From this time on Boston was the center 
of attention. 

Shortly after the passage of the Townshend acts Parlia- 
ment petitioned the king that persons in the colonies 

charged with treason should be carried to 
A dangerous England for trial. This seems to have been 

a mere threat, but if Parliament was not in 
earnest it was playing with a sacred right, the right of an 
Englishman to be tried by a jury of the vicinage or the 
neighborhood. To withhold this privilege was tyranny.* 

On hearing of this action by Parliament, the 
The Virginia Virginia House passed a series of resolves. 

resolvesi ^ ^ 

They assured the king of the loyalty of his 

subjects, but asserted in unmistakable language the right 

of petition and the privilege of self-taxation, and declared 

that sending persons " beyond the sea to be tried is highly 

derogatory of the rights of British subjects." 

In 1770 the Townshend acts were modified. The duty 

was taken off all the articles save tea, but the act so altered 

was as obnoxious as before. The discussion in Parliament 

* It is nowhere more strikingly denounced than in Burke's Letter 
to the Sheriffs of Bristol. " A person is brought hither in the dungeon 
of a ship's hold ; thence he is vomitted into a dungeon on land, loaded 
with irons, unfurnished with money, unsupported by friends, three 
thousand miles from all means of calling upon or confronting evidence, 
where no one local circumstance that tends to detect perjury can pos- 
sibly be judged of : — such a person may be executed according to form, 
but he can never be tried according to justice." 



182 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



A principle at 
stake. 



The Boston 
Massacre. 



disclosed the utter failure of many to appreciate the prin- 
ciples which the colonists cherished. It was not a paltry 
£40,000 a year that was at stake ; the princi- 
ple of sel'f-taxation and the rights of the popu- 
lar assemblies were in danger. This is what 
Webster meant when he said at a later day, " They went to 
war against a preamble. They fought seven years against 
a declaration." 

Meanwhile the British troops in Boston were a constant 
irritant. The House of Representatives refused to legislate 
or pass bills of supply. They denounced a 
standing army as a menace to their liberties. 
They absolutely refused to pay for quartering 
the troops (1769). "We never will make provision for the 
purposes in your several messages above mentioned," they 

quietly and firmly asserted. 
The soldiers on the streets 
were a source of annoyance 
and were often insulted and 
provoked by crowds of men 
and boys, who delighted in 
teasing them. On the night 
of March 5, 1770, occurred 
the " Boston Massacre." A 
small guard of soldiers, irri- 
tated beyond endurance, 
fired into a crowd and in- 
stantly killed three persons 
and wounded several others, 
two mortally. Only the im- 
mediate arrest of the offend- 
ing soldiers prevented a serious riot. The town meeting 
next day, under the lead of Samuel Adams, demanded the 
immediate withdrawal of the troops from the town. To 
this demand the authorities finally acceded, and stationed 
the soldiers on an island in the harbor. The massacre 



AMERICAN SI 

BEAR IN RfiMBMaRAMCE 

The HORRID MASSACREI 

Perperrated in Kingifttcet. Boston. 

Newr-Engfand. 

On the Evening of March the FJfth, 1770. 

When FIVE of your fcllpw countrymen. 

Gray, Ma-virick, CALDWRLt. Attucks, 

and Cars. 

Lay v^al lowing in their Core ! 

Being bajely^ and mort inbamanty 

MURDERED! 

And SIX others badly woi/ndeo! 

By a Party of chc XXiXtn Regiment, 

Under the connmand oJ Capj. Tho. Ptefton. 

rcmcmxer! 

ThaiTwo of the Murdererj 

Were convifted of MANSLAUGHTER! 

By a Jury, of whom I Hiall fay 

NOTHING, 

Branded in the haodi 

And difmijfed. 

The others were Acquitted, 

.And their Captain .PENSIONED! 

PoKTioN OF A Handbill recall 
iNG THE Boston Massacre. 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 183 

caused great excitement throughout the colonies. When 
the soldiers were tried on the charge of murder, they were 
defended by John Adams and Josiah Quincy, two bright 
young lawyers, whose devotion to the popular cause had 
not stifled their sense of justice. Two soldiers were found 
guilty of manslaughter and slightly punished. 

For some time there was quiet ; but all danger was not 
removed. By this time Samuel Adams had made up his 
j^p^^j mind that the colonies ought to be independ- 

committeesof ent. He worked without ceasing. In 1772 
correspondence. ^^ moved in the Boston town meeting the ap- 
pointment of a committee " to state the rights of the Colo- 
nists and of this province in particular as men, as Christians 
and as subjects ; . . . also requesting of each Town a free 
communication of their sentiments on this subject." Thus 
was shown the worth of the town meeting as a weapon 
against oppression. The Assembly might, mayhap, be dis- 
solved, browbeaten, even outwitted; the town meetings, 
everywhere alert, could not be crushed. 

In this year (1772) an English ship, the Gaspee, whose 
commander seems to have been very arbitrary and arrogant 
in his eiforts to enforce the revenue laws, was 
aspee. attacked and burned by a party of Ehode 
Islanders.* We need not excuse the act ; it was a piece of 
violence that deserved condemnation ; but the English 
Government unduly magnified the offense and appointed a 
commission for investigation, which threatened to take the 
culprits to England for trial. The offenders could not be 
discovered, however, while the high-handed methods of the 
commission aggravated the discontent in the colonies. The 
Virginia Assembly appointed a Committee of Correspondence 
to keep in communication with the other colonies. Thus a 



♦There were many acts of violence during these years; and we 
need neither excuse nor commend them. But we must remember that 
a great revolution was in progress, and that in such times violent men 
and wicked characters find an opportunity for disorder. 



184 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

means was provided for getting the colonies to act in con- 
cert. " In this manner," says Bancroft, " Virginia laid the 
foundation of our Union." 

An act of violence now occurred in Boston, and affairs 

hurried to a climax. As a clever device to coax or bribe 

the colonies into paying the tea tax, the duty 

The Boston j^^^j heen reduced so much that the price of tea 

Tea raxtyi ^ 

was actually less than in England. This was 

said to be the " king's plan." " The king meant to try the 
question with America." Cargoes of tea were sent to 
America, and three ships entered Boston harbor (1773). A 
mass meeting was held. Too large for Faneuil Hall, it ad- 
journed to the Old South Meeting House, and there it was 
solemnly resolved that the tea must be sent back to Eng- 
land. But the authorities refused to give the sailing 
papers. On the evening of December 16th a body of men 
disguised as Indians boarded the ships, and, breaking open 
the chests, emptied their contents into the sea. 

Boston had thrown down the gauntlet. The English 

people were outraged by this action. Fiery speeches were 

made in Parliament. " The town of Boston," 

The five g^j^ ^^^ "ought to be knocked about their 

intoleraDle acts. ' ° 

ears and destroyed." Another described their 

acts as " the proceedings of a tumultous and riotous rabble, 
who ought ... to follow their mercantile employments 
and not trouble themselves with politics and government, 
which they do not understand." In this spirit five acts 
were passed, some of them at least in violation of the prin- 
ciples of the English Constitution. The first act was the 
Boston Port Bill, closing the port of Boston until the tea 
was paid for and the town became (3ompliant and obedient ; 
Salem was made the seat of government. The second 
changed the charter of Massachusetts in many important 
particulars, chiefly by extending the power of the Crown ; 
town meetings, except for electing officers, could be held 
only by the governor's permission. The third act provided 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 186 

that if any person were accused of " murther or other capital 
crime," and it were made to appear that " the fact was com- 
mitted in the execution of his duty as a magistrate, for the 
suppression of riots " or in support of the laws, the accused 
should be taken for trial to some place outside the colony. 
This seemed to the Americans to encourage officers in 
shooting down the people. A fourth bill provided for 
quartering troops in America. A fifth, called the Quebec 
Act, established the old French law in Canada, sanctioned 
the Catholic religion there, and extended the boundaries of 
the province westward and southward to the Mississippi and 
Ohio. The establishment of the despotic law of France, 
even in the old French colony, was thought by the Amer- 
icans to be a menace to free institutions in all the colonies. 
The recognition of Eoman Catholicism, although in fact it 
was a reasonable act of toleration, offended the New Eng- 
landers and seemed to threaten their chosen faith. More- 
over, Massachusetts and other colonies claimed, under their 
charters, title to portions of this western land thus made 
part of Canada. Such were the five "Intolerable Acts." 
These acts were passed early in 1774, and almost at once 
General Gage, commissioned as governor, came to Boston 
with additional troops to see that the laws were obeyed. 
Boston harbor was closed. 

Again all the colonies were alarmed. Their political 
theories were alike ; the political practices of all had made 
Th.F' ^^^ self-government. Now, in spite of differ- 

Oontinental ences in social and industrial condition, under 
Congress. ^-j^^ stress of a common danger and a common 

fear, a new people was born. September 5, 1774, a Congress 
met at Philadelphia. Delegates were present from all the 
colonies save Georgia, and the people of Georgia were known 
to be in sympathy with the purposes of the Congress. It 
issued a " Declaration of Eights." This declared that the 
people of the colonies were " entitled to life, liberty, and 
property," and that they had " never ceded to any sovereign 



186 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

power whatever a right to dispose of either without their 
consent." It further asserted that the colonists were en- 
titled to the rights of Englishmen, and that 
tiont"^^'^" ^^^® "foundation of English liberty, and of all 
free government, is a right in the people to 
participate in their legislative council ; and as the English 
colonists are not represented, and from their local and 
other circumstances can not be properly represented in the 
British Parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive 
power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures." 
They consented, out of regard to mutual interest, " to the 
operation of such acts of the British Parliament as are hona 
fide restrained to the regulation of our external commerce." 
This was a reasonable compromise. The colonies had now 
come to the point where they utterly denied the authority 
of the British Parliament over them * ; they had their own 
parliaments ; but for mutual interest they promised to 
recognize laws passed by the British Parliament that were 
really external in their operation, and were acts of real 
regulation and not of taxation. 

The Congress also framed Articles of Association, where- 
in the delegates for themselves " and the inhabitants of the 
several colonies " agreed and associated " under 

The association, ,-, j /• £ -vr- j. tt it £ 

the sacred ties oi Virtue, Honor, and Love oi 
our Country," not to import into America any goods from 
Great Britain, products from the British West Indies, tea 
or wines. The importation of slaves was to cease Decem- 
ber 1st. Addresses to the king, to the people of the col- 

* If now Parliament insisted on legislating for the colonies in other 
respects, and against the colonial desire, and if the king accepted such 
acts of Parliament and tried to enforce them, the Americans would 
have, in their opinion, the lawful right to refuse obedience. And if the 
king persisted, he would himself be acting beyond his legal authority. 
As yet, however, there was little bitter talk, except among the ex- 
tremists, about throwing off the power of the king. Compare the 
Declaration of Independence, where George III is charged with giv- 
ing his assent to "acts of pretended legislation." 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 187 

onies, to the people of Quebec, and to the people of Great 
Britain were adopted. But more important and fateful 
than all these addresses was the following resolution : 
" That this Congress approve the opposition 
of the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay to 
tlie execution of the late Acts of Parliament ; and if the 
same shall be attempted to be carried into execution 
„ by force, in such case all America ousrht to 

Congress j ^ o 

supports support them in their opposition." This could 

Boston. mean but one thing — war with the mother 

country if she persisted. 

Thus, little by little, England and America were 
estranged and ready for open war ; and yet this does not 
Differences in ^^^^ ^^^^ whole truth, for America was divided 
England and in England the colonists had many eager 

and America. and able defenders. If the king was obstinate 
and if Parliament on the whole was incapable of appre- 
ciating the colonial position, some men there were, like 
Burke and Chatham and Fox, who were not dull, nor 
short-sighted, nor ungenerous ; many men throughout the 
troublesome years that followed were bold enough to wish 
ill success to the arms of their own country. In America 
the situation was complicated. There were some leaders, 
like Samuel Adams, who were ready for war and eager for 
independence ; others were unwilling to consider inde- 
pendence, but were prepared to fight for the maintenance 
of their " constitutional rights " ; others, again, believing 
England wrong, preferred peace to war and looked with 
horror on the thought of renouncing the name of English- 
men. No small portion of the people were irreconcilable 
loyalists, opposing the radical leaders and willing to give 
up their all rather than rebel against their king. And so, 
while we may trace out, as we have done in the preced- 
ing pages, the gradual widening of the breach between the 
coloni(}s and the mother country, we must not think that 
the people of either country were altogether united in their 



[ 



188 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

sentiments and sympathies. John Adams in later years de- 
clared that about one-third of the American people were 
" Tories." And all this means that, while we speak, and 
shall probably always speak, of the struggle between Eng- 
land and America, the war that ensued had many of the 
features and many of the deplorable effects of a civil war. 

Trivial offenses on the part of government can not justify 
revolution. Only oppression or serious danger can justify 
, war. It can not be said that the people of the 

Eevolution colonies had actually suffered much. It might 

justifiable ? gyg^j seem that the mother country was not at 
all tyrannical in taxing the colonies to pay for defending 
them, and beyond question George III and his pliant 
ministers had no intention of treating the colonists with 
cruelty. How, then, can the war that followed be justified ? 
The Eevolution was j stifiable because the colonists stood 
for certain fundamental principles that were woven into 
the very fabric of their lives. They were determined that 
no one should take money from them without their con- 
sent, and that their own local governments should be indeed 
their own and do their will. They carried to a legitimate 
conclusion the true political principles for which the Eng- 
lish people had fought in the great rebellion of the seven- 
teenth century. They had a keener appreciation of liberty 
than any other people in the world. In England a design- 
ing monarch was intent upon making himself king in fact 
as well as in name, and the people seemed lethargic and 
forgetful of the fundamental principles of English liberty. 
The average English statesman at Westminster — and few 
there were that merited the name of statesman — could not 
accept the fundamentals of the American argument without 
condemning the practices of his country and ridiculing the 
whole representative system as it then existed. The colo- 
nists, on the other hand, cherishing the rights of English- 
men, demanded the substance and not merely the forms of 
self-government. Had these self-reliant people on this side 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 



189 



of the ocean been pliant and obedient to laws they consid- 
ered wrong and tyrannical, it would have been an evil day 
for popular government. It is sometimes said that the 
American Eevolution was conservative or preservative. 
Such it surely was ; but it did more than save the principles 
of English liberty : it built them up and gave them a log- 
ical expression in the institutions of a free people made by 
themselves and changeable at their own discretion, and in 
the growth of free government resting on the people not 
only in America but in England. 

References. 
Short accounts : Channing, United States of America, Chapter II ; 
Hart, the Formation of the Union, Chapter III; Hinsdale, The 
American Government, pp. 52-63. Longer accounts: Fiske, The 
American Revolution, Volume I, pp. 1-120; Sloane, The French 
War and the Revolution, Chapters X to XIV; Hosmer, Samuel 
Adams, pp. 33-313; Tyler, Patrick Henry, pp. 32-135; Morse, Ben- 
jamin Franklin, pp. 99-202; Lecky, The American Revolution, 1763- 
1783 ; Howard, The Preliminaries of the Revolution. 




The Boston Massacre. 
From an etching by Paul Revere. 



14 



CHAPTER IX. 
The Revolution— 1775-1783. 

During the winter and early spring of 1775, although 

there was no open violence, the feeling was intense. There 

„., ,. . was a sympathetic communication from colony 

Situation m j r j 

the beginning to colony. Each felt the danger of the other. 
of 1775. cc ^^Q must fight ! " exclaimed Henry in Vir- 

ginia; "an appeal to the God of hosts is all that is left 
us." Upon the anniversary of the " Massacre " Joseph 
Warren delivered a stirring address in the Old South Church 
in Boston. But there was still no outburst of uncontrol- 
lable excitement. There seemed to be a determination that 
the first blow must be struck by the British ; for the war 
was to be conservative or preservative rather than destruc- 
tive. Boston was almost in a state of siege ; its business 
was thrown into much disorder ; there were cases of suffer- 
ing among the poor and the unemployed. The sullen per- 
sistence with which the people neither fought nor relented 
suggested that when war was once begun only success 
would end it. 

The New Englanders, under the lead of Massachusetts, 
were taking steps to bring about united armed resistance, 
^ . ^ , when the war was actually precipitated by the 

Lexington and . j r r j 

Concord, action of the English commander. General 

April 19, 1775. Qage sent a detachment to destroy stores which 
the Americans had gathered at Concord, a little village 
some twenty miles from Boston. The movement was dis- 
covered, the country was aroused, and when the advanced 
division of the British force reached Lexington in the pale 

190 



THE REVOLlTTION— 1775-1783. 



IV. I 



gray of the early morning they found a squad of sturdy 
yeomen drawn up defiantly on the village green. Called 
upon to disperse, they refused ; and the regulars fired into 




From an etching by Doolittle, copied from a drawing made by Earle 
after the battle. 

the little company, killing seven and wounding several 
others. The English then proceeded to Concord and de- 
stroyed the stores. Meanwhile the provincials were pour- 
ing in from the surrounding country, and the British force 
began to retire. The retreat became little better than a 
headlong flight. Franklin, in his humorous fashion, wrote 
to a friend that the British " troops made a most vigorous 
retreat, twenty miles in three hours — scarce to be paralleled 
in history — and the feeble Americans, who pelted them all 
the way, could scarce keep up with them." The news of 
this engagement spread like wildfire. Men grasped what- 
ever weapons they had and hastened toward Boston. An 
army was soon gathered in the vicinity of the city, and the 



192 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

people of the colonies realized that, after ten years of excite- 
ment and vexation, war was at last begun. 

Early in May Ticonderoga was taken by the Americans. 
Crown Point fell a day or two later. The capture of these 
fortresses was important, because the British 
Orr^Pofnt?''^ were considering the advisability of taking the 
line of the Hudson and cutting off from the 
other colonies the New Englanders, who were thought to 
be especially disaffected and rebellious. 

The second Continental Congress met May 10. It be- 
came the central government of the nation, and continued 
« , to be so for six years. Washington was se- 

Oontmental lected commander in chief of the " Continen- 
Oongress. ^^1 Army." Preparations were made for the 

support of the troops. Washington was then in the very 
prime of life — forty-three years of age, tall, stalwart, and 
strong. His experience in the French and Indian War, his 
undoubted military talents, the unqualified respect which 
all felt who knew him, coupled with the fact 
as mgton. ^^^^ ^^^ choice of a Southern general was the 
imperative demand of common sense, made his selection 
the only possible one. It was a fateful moment when the 
question was under consideration. From that time the 
Kevolution rested on Washington's shoulders. Had the 
task fallen to any other man the war would probably have 
been a failure ; for he was not simply a great man, he was 
a great general, possessed of wonderful judgment and self- 
control, and yet capable of bold, quick, decisive action. 
The campaigns of the Eevolution, which can be given here 
only in outline, prove that in a century which boasted of 
some of the greatest commanders in history, A¥ashington 
won deserved renown as one of the ablest of them all. 

Meantime the Continental Army with dogged care had 
been drawing the lines around Boston. Before Washing- 
ton could take command another battle had been fought. 
Gage had decided to take an advanced position. To antici- 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 



193 



pate him, and to secure, if possible, a point commanding the 

harbor, on the evening of the 16th of June a force of twelve 

hundred men under the command of Colonel 

Bunker mil, Prescott pushed forward from the American 

June 17, 1775i ^ 

lines and took up a position on Bunker Hill,* 
an eminence on the Oharlestown promontory. By morn- 
ing, when they were discovered by the enemy, an embank- 
ment had been thrown up, and the continuous bombard- 
ment from the English men-of-war was of no avail in 
driving the Americans from their position. General Gage 
determined to assault the works. The world knows the 

result. Beaten back 
in two desperate as- 
saults, the British 
finally captured the re- 
doubt when the pro- 
vincials had run out 
of ammunition. It 
was a victory dearly 
bought, and though 
the Americans were 
for the moment over- 
come by mortification, 
their brave resistance to disciplined troops was of great 
moral effect. 

Congress had appointed a number of generals and other 
officers at the same time that Wasliington was made com- 
mander in chief. In addition to these warlike preparations, 
they sent one last petition to the king asking for a redress 
of grievances, and they also issued a declaration of tlie 
causes of taking up arms. The petition, of course, had no 
effect upon obdurate George III, who, on the contrary, 
issued a proclamation against the American traitors, and 




* Breed's Hill, where the battle was fought, was in reality an exten- 
sion of Bunker Hill, and connected with it by a ridge. 



LH4 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 




proceeded to hire foreign troops to put down the rebellion. 
Some twenty thousand men were employed as mercenaries 
against the people in America, who were risking their lives 
for self-government and the rights of Englishmen. 

Washington took command of the Continental Army in 
July. His task was a difficult one. The army was undis- 
Boston ciplined, unorganized. The men had come 

evacuated, hurriedly together on the impulse of the mo- 

March, 1776. uient, and lacked nearly everything needful for 
the long task that awaited them. Slowly, as the year went 
hy, Washington made out of the raw militia an army. The 
lines were drawn more closely around Boston, and at tlie 
opening of the following spring (1776) entrenchments 
were thrown up on Dorchester Heights overlooking the 
city. Bunker Hill had taught its lesson, and General 
Howe, who was now in command of the British forces, 
evacuated the city (March 17, 1776). 
i./ While the main body of the army was engaged about 
Boston a daring attempt had been made upon Canada. 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 195 

Richard Montgomery, with a force of about two thousand 
men, made his way north by the Lake Champlain route and 
Attem tto took possession of Montreal. Meanwhile Col- 
take Quebec, onel Benedict Arnold was endeavoring to push 
1775. directly north through the woods of Maine, 

hoping to join Montgomery in an attack upon Quebec. The 
two forces, small enough at the best, were united early in 
December, and on the last day of the month made a daring 
night attack upon the walled city. Montgomery was killed, 
Arnold was sorely wounded, and, in spite of the fiercest cour- 
age, the assault was unsuccessful. The Americans with- 
drew. Canada remained in the possession of England. 

The early part of 1776 was full of encouragement. The 
Virginians, fully aroused to hostility by the conduct of 
g. . ^ . their royal governor, were quite ready for de- 

earlypartof cisive actiou. In North Carolina the Scottish 
■'■'^^^' royalists were badly beaten.* In June, Sir 

Henry Clinton with the British fleet attacked Charleston 
and was beaten off. The continuance of hostilities, Eng- 
land's action in hiring German mercenaries to suppress the 
colonies, and the unremitting diligence of the radical lead- 
ers, were making the people ready to announce indepen- 
dence. The sentiment in favor of total separation from the 
mother country had developed with a slowness that seems 
remarkable when one considers that already war had been 
in progress a year or more. 

On June 7th Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, offered in 

Congress the resolution " That these United Colonies are, 

and of right ought to be, free and independent 

Declaration of gtates." The debates were vigorous. It was 

Independence. ° 

in connection with this debate and the repeated 
appeals for unanimity that Franklin perpetrated his fa- 
mous witticism, " Yes, we must indeed all hang together, 
or assuredly we shall all hang separately." No doubt the 

* Moore's Creek, February, 1776. 



196 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

thought thus humorously expressed had its influence for 
harmony. The middle colonies, as yet unmolested and not 
feeling full sympathy with their JSTorthern brethren, were 
inclined to hold back. But the people on the whole were 
found to be ready for the step. July 2, 1776, the resolution 
was adopted, and two days later the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, drawn by Thomas Jefferson,* was adopted, stat- 
ing the reasons and the justification of the act. 

This declaration deserves careful study. The language 
is so well chosen and so dignified, its phrases are so har- 
monious, that it must always stand as a great piece of liter- 
ature. It embodies, too, a distinct statement of grievances ; 
and, moreover, lays down the fundamental principle of 
democratic government — that all men are created equal, 
and that each man has the inalienable right to pursue hap- 
piness. And this means not that each man is as good and 
as strong as another, or that idleness and vice are as good 
as industry and virtue ; but that every man has certain 
rights which no government can take away; it naturally 
involves the sentiment that no class of men, like the privi- 
leged orders of Europe, is entitled to peculiar care and pro- 
tection from government. Such sayings, which pass over 
your head and mine now as mere truisms, were revolution- 
ary and radical one hundred and thirty years ago. 

Steps had already been taken in some of the States to 
frame State constitutions, to found a political order suit- 
able to their new situation. This work, com- 
C*n*t"t f pleted in some cases more quickly than in 

others, deserves special thought and attention ; 
for this work, we might well say, iijas the revolution — the 
transformation of the colonies into commonwealths, the 

* See Morse's Jefferson, pp. 32-40. On July 5 some copies were 
printed and issued. Not till August 2 was the engrossed copy signed 
by the delegates. See Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, vol. vi, 
p. 268. One member did not sign till November, 1776, and another 
not till 1781. 



THE REVOLUTION"— 1775-1783. 197 

establisliment of governments in accord with the wishes 
of the people, the assumption of power by the men of 
America in the States scattered along the ocean front from 
Florida to the Penobscot. In many respects it is true the 
changes were not marked ; there was little or no destruc- 
tion of the institutions which were the results of colonial 
growth ; two of the States, Ehode Island and Connecticut, 
went on under their old charters. And yet it was, as we 
have said, of pronounced significance, because the new con- 
stitutions were founded on the people, and recognized the 
ultimate political authority of the people. This is a great 
fact in human history : governments were no longer to be 
the source of power, but the agents and the servants of the 
real governors^ the people. 

As we look back now on the Revolution we see that the 
important fact was not the war, although it involved one- 
half of civilized mankind ; it was not the separation from 
Great Britain, the mere breaking of the political or legal 
bond, although that was a fact of no small moment. The 
important fact was that in America a nation was founded 
with a new ideal, and that certain theories of right were 
now made real by being asserted in written documents and 
by being hardened in institutions of government. Some of 
these fundamental rights, suggested in the opening para- 
graph of the Declaration of Independence, were even more 
clearly phrased in other places and most notably in the Vir- 
ginia Bill of Rights, a noble public document. In these 
State papers there appears clearly the notion that govern- 
ments are of limited authority and that there are certain 
essential rights of men which can not be taken away.* In 
the course of the Revolution the idea was plainly expressed 

* The student will be interested in seeing what rights are laid down 
as fundamental in the constitution of his own State. A large majority 
of our present State constitutions, following earlier examples, contain 
in one way or another Bills of Rights. 



198 



HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 



that governments are the servants, not the masters, of the 
main body of the people. 

From both a military and a political point of view the 

city of New York and the line of the Hudson were of great 

importance. JSTew York had a lar^e number 

Bntisli prepare ^ ° 

to attack New of British sympathizers, and there was some 
^°^'^' chance that through them the colony might be 

won for the king. The Hudson valley, if securely held, 
would separate the ever-active New Englanders from their 

less vehement brethren 
of the Middle States. 
Washington antici- 
pated the desire of 
Howe to get possession 
of the city and the 
mouth of the Hudson. 
He moved his troops 
from Boston to New 
York in April. His 
army was small and 
very poorly equipped, 
while New York was a 
place very difficult to 
defend. He made the 
best of the situation, 
holding the city, and 
stationing a strong de- 
tachment on Brooklyn 
Heights, an eminence 
which must be held if the city were to be retained. 

An English fleet with troops on board arrived at Staten 
Island in July. The army was commanded by 
General William Howe. His brother Rich- 
ard, Lord Howe, was in command of the fleet. 
The latter was charged with the task of making offers of 
conciliation and pardon. But he could accomplish noth- 



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THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. I99 

ing. Washington said there could be no pardon where 
there was no guilt; and when the proposals were made 
known to Congress, Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, 
remarked : " No doubt we all need pardon from Heaven ; 
but the American who needs the pardon of his Britannic 
Majesty is yet to be found." It was clearly too late to treat 
with the Americans as rebellious British subjects. 

As we have seen, Washington had posted a portion of 
his troops on Brooklyn Heights, hoping to hold the posi- 
tion. This was a difficult undertaking. The English out- 
numbered the Americans, and, moreover, could strike where 
Battle of Lon ^hey cliose, while Washington must divide his 
Island, August, forces to meet the enemy at various places. 
1776. Howe decided to attack the troops on Long 

Island, and was successful in the battle. Many Americans 
were taken prisoners, and the remainder of the army was in 
a critical situation. They were hemmed in and in danger 
of being captured to a man. Washington now executed one 
of the most brilliant maneuvers of the war. .During the 
night the whole force was ferried silently and stealthily 
across the East River to New York, leaving the British in 
possession of empty earthworks and a barren victory. 

Driven from New York city, AVashington skillfully re- 
treated with his discouraged army. Late in October the 

Retreat across ^.^^^^^ ^^ ^^^i*^ ^^^^^^ waS fought. The Eng- 

New Jersey, lish were on the whole successful, for the 
autumn, 1776. Americans were obliged to retreat. Howe did 
not follow up his advantage, however, but turned aside to 
attack Eort Washington, the plans of which had been put 
into his hands by an American officer. The fort was taken, 
and Eort Lee, on the west side of the Hudson, was at once 
evacuated. Washington now withdrew into New Jersey, 
and the dreary, disheartening retreat began. The Ameri- 
can army was daily dwindling, for the soldiers lost heart 
when they were not victorious. In the early winter the 
little army of three thousand men crossed the Delaware 



200 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

into Pennsylvania. Had Howe then made a rapid march 
to Philadelphia it would surely have been taken, and the 
moral effect would have been so great that all hopes of re- 
sistance might perhaps have been abandoned ; the Eevolu- 
tion might have been a failure. But Howe, pluming him- 
self upon his success, left his troops under the command of 
General Cornwallis, so as to guard Washington completely, 
as he thought, and went back to New York to hear praises 
of his victories and enjoy the gayeties of the holiday season. 
But Washington was not yet beaten, nor utterly discour- 
aged. A few re-enforcements came to him. He made up 
his mind to strike. Crossing the Delaware Christmas night, 
1776, he surprised a company of Hessians at Trenton, and 
took a thousand prisoners and a thousand stands of arms. 
He retreated into Pennsylvania, and then once more crossed 
back into New Jersey, where by a series of brilliant move- 
ments he completely outgeneraled Cornwallis, 
Princeton ^De- ^ho was perhaps the most competent com- 
cember, 1776, mander on the English side during the war. 
January, 1777. j^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ Princeton Washington defeated 

the enemy, and then, though not daring with his small force 
to push ahead and capture their stores, he practically held 
New Jersey by taking the heights at Morristown. Thus in 
midwinter was fought an important campaign. The losses 
of the summer were in part retrieved. The American gen- 
eral showed a combination of caution with boldness and 
skill in strategy that marked him a general of the first 
rank. Frederick the Great, himself a master in the art of 
war, is said to have declared that this was the most brilliant 
campaign of the century. 

The experiences of this year of active warfare taught 
their evident lessons. It was plain that the 

Eenewed struffffle was not to be finished in a moment, 

preparations. ^^ 

that it was likely to be long and desperate, and 

that something must be done to provide a suitable army, 

one with some degree of permanence, and not made up of 



THE REVOLUTION— ITI 



201 




'W77t<f 



militia that would melt away in the day of trial and dis- 
couragement. Washington was clothed with almost dicta- 
torial authority, but of course 
used his power with consid- 
eration.* To get together a 
considerable body of men 
well equipped and bound to 
serve for the war proved an 
enormous task. Throughout 
the winter Washington la- 
bored faithfully; but by the 
opening of spring his force 
was still small, and only by 
the most careful strategy and 
waiting could he hope to 
accomplish anything against 
his powerful opponent. 

The enemy were at New York and in eastern ]^ew 
Jersey. The American line ran from the Hudson south- 
westward to Morristown, and on to Princeton. 
^?uatSi!^'^ Thus the opening of the campaign of 1777 saw 
the Americans still steadfast and hopeful, for, 
spite of the victories of the summer before, Howe was 
hardly further ahead than he was just after the battle of 
Long Island. 

The English Government now prepared to take a firm 
hold upon the country. They determined to get control of 
the Hudson River, and thus cut oft Xew England from the 
Middle States. General Burgoyne was to march down from 

* In speaking of Washington's success at Trenton and Princeton, 
one ought not to forget Robert Morris, whose generosity and exertions 
to raise money made these victories possible. His executive ability was 
of great service to his country. He raised money on his own credit 
to aid Washington. " During December and January he may be said 
to have carried on all the work of the continent." (Sumner's Robert 
Morris, p. 17.) 



202 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Canada, and Howe was to go north and meet him. An- 
other force under St. Leger was to go up Lake Ontario to 
Oswego, take Port Stanwix, and come down 
ffntetmV^^ the Mohawk Valley. By some accident Howe 
seems not to have been ordered by the home 
Grovernment to proceed with his troops up the Hudson ; but 
he ought to have known enough to go without explicit 
orders. Burgoyne began his southward march in June. 
We can not trace his course in detail nor see all the diffi- 
culties that beset him. At first he was suc- 

Burgoyne 

marches soutli cessf ul. Ticonderoga was taken, and the news 
from Canada, ^f }jig yictory filled England with glee and 
Burgoyne with undue vainglory. But soon the danger of 
marching into an enemy's country began to be made more 
clear to him. An American army was in front, and the 
militia were gathering behind him. He sent a detachment 
to Bennington, in what is now Vermont, to seize supplies ; 
but the militia, under the command of doughty John Stark, 
simply annihilated the whole force. Aroused by this suc- 
cess, the country rose to check the invader, and it was soon 
apparent to Burgoyne that he was in a tight place. His 
army was growing weaker. He was compelled to fight or 
starve. But he was defeated in the engagements which 
he risked. His supplies were cut off, and while the Amer- 
ican army grew stronger, his own grew constantly weaker. 
He retreated to Saratoga, and there, surround- 
at Saratoga, cd, baffled, beset, he surrendered at discretion. 
October, 1777. Burgoyne's defeat was inevitable, inasmuch as 
Howe had not gone north to co-operate with him. Gates, 
the American commander, was devoid of genius, talent, 
or character. His conduct of the campaign was free from 
all merit, save that his very failure to act gave an op- 
portunity for the enemy to be slowly weakened and over- 
come. 

Meanwhile St. Leger had met with discomfiture. Tn a 
fierce battle at Oriskany, the bloodiest contest of the war, a 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. ^03 

detachment of Tories aided by Indians was defeated by a 
band of Americans under the brave old General 
defeatedat ^'^ Herkimer. Fort Stanwix could not be taken, 
Oriskany, and finally, upon the advance of an army 

August, 1777. ^j^^gj. ^rnoid^ the British fled precipitately. 

Let us now turn southward and see what became of 
Howe. Washington expected to see him move northward ; 
„ , but he did not. He seemed to be infatuated 

Howe's 

expedition to with the idea of taking Philadelphia. He pre- 
Philadelphia. pared to march across New Jersey ; but Wash- 
ington, perceiving his purpose, blocked him and worried 
him by superior strategy. Then Howe determined to sail 
for the " rebel capital." In August he appeared in Chesa- 
peake Bay, and began to advance upon Philadelphia.* A 
battle was fought at Brandywine Creek, and the xVmericans, 
^ . » sorely outnumbered, were beaten. Washington 

Brandywine, brought his troops oS in clevcr fashion, and 
Sept., 1777. the day after the battle he had his army 
organized and ready to fight again. The British entered 
Philadelphia. Even now the heart of the American com- 
mander did not fail him. He determined to surprise the 

enemy at Germantown, and he mapped out a 
Se?*!???. P^^^ ^^ operations which, if successful, would 

have overwhelmed them. An attack was made 
in the early morning and was almost a success ; but two 
advancing divisions lost their way in a dense fog, and one 
fired upon the other thinking it was the enemy. So the 
surprise was a failure. 

And yet it was not a failure. It disclosed to the think- 
ing men of America and to the onlookers in Europe the 
Eff t f daring generalship of the man who thus in the 

campaign face of defeat ventured to plan a bold assault 

on Europe. ^j^}^ intent not simply to annoy but to crush 

the army that had beaten him. European statesmen 
and monarchs, who were watching the "rebellion" with 

* He landed his troops at Elkton. 
15 



204 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

utmost care, saw that the colonists could fight with great 
courage in the midst of defeat, and that the capture of the 
capital by no means meant that the war was over. 

For some time Benjamin Franklin had been at Paris as 

a commissioner from the United States, and had been 

working in his quiet, shrewd way to bring 

The rrench France to recoofnize the independence of the 

alliancei 

United States and take part in the war. This 
France was not loath to do. She was still smarting under 
her defeat in the Seven Years' War, and was longing for 
revenge for the loss of Canada. After the defeat of Bur- 
goyne it was apparent that the Eevolution had good 
chances of success. France then made a treaty of alliance 
with the United States (February, 1778).* In a short time 
Spain and Holland, too, were drawn, for their own reasons, 
into the war against Great Britain. Even before the 
French treaty a number of Frenchmen came over to help 
in what they considered a struggle for liberty. Chief 
among them was Marquis de Lafayette. Other foreigners 
came also, and one. Baron Steuben, a German, was of great 
service in organizing and drilling the American troops. 

This winter, that brought the happy news of foreign aid, 
was a winter of suffering for the American army. It passed 

the dreary months at Valley Forge in destitu- 
™^y^g^^®' tion. Washington did not leave his men and 

go home to live in luxury, but stayed to endure 
privation with them. Only he who reads his letters written 
during these trying times can appreciate his troubles and 

* The end of the alliance was asserted to be to maintain the liberty, 
sovereignty, and independence of the United States, " as well in matters 
of government as of commerce." The United States guaranteed to 
France Its "present possessions" in America, and all that it might ac- 
quire by the war ; France, in its turn, guaranteed the liberty and inde- 
pendence of the United States, and all their possessions, " and the addi- 
tion or conquests that their confederation may obtain during the war." 
At the same time a treaty of amity and commerce was agreed upon. 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 205 

anxieties. The worst of it all was, that the nation was not 
poverty stricken. The war had brought some hardships to 
the people, but the country had plenty of clothing and 
shoes and beef and flour. Why did the army not have 
them? In the first place, because the General Government 
was inefficient. Congress had no power to levy 
Congressional ^^^^g^ j^ ^^^1^1 .^g|^ f^^. i^Q^ey, but not de- 
incompetency, "^ ' 

mand it. It was not well organized to act as a 
government, being in essence a convention of delegates. 
There was no proper executive authority and no judiciary, 
and a large body of men gathered together from different 
parts of the country was, of course, singularly incapable of 
conducting a war with wisdom and economy. The execu- 
tive work was first done by committees, and afterward 
these committees became executive boards. Before the 
end of the war experience proved the desirability of hav- 
ing a single man in charge of each distinct department 
of executive work. But it was 1781 before the step was 
taken ; then a Superintendent of Finance was appointed, 
and a Secretary for Foreign Affairs. 

In addition to the fact that the Government was not 
properly organized, there were other reasons for folly and 
inefficiency. Some of the members of Congress seem to 
have*loved the intrigues of politics more than the work of 
providing for the army and holding up the hands of its 
great leader. Moreover, there were jealousies and rivalries 
between the different States. The course of colonial his- 
tory had taught the people to cherish their local govern- 
ments and to repel any sort of dictation from without. 
Now the people were a nation, and all the States had a 
common interest ; but real national patriotism and fervid 
devotion to a central government could come only as the 
growth of years. In November, 1777, Congress proposed to 
the States for adoption Articles of Confederation. These 
were not adopted by all the States for some time, and did 
not go into effect until 1781, 



206 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

In the summer (1778) English commissioners arrived in 
Philadelphia offering terms of conciliation. All proposals 
T, . . „ were reiected. Sir Henry Clinton succeeded 

Beginning of '' . *' 

campaign of Howe, and Philadelphia was evacuated. The 
^'^'^^' English army began its march across New Jer- 

sey to New York. Washington followed. He attacked the 
enemy at Monmouth, and, had it not been for the dastardly 
conduct of General Charles Lee, who disobeyed orders and 
beat a shameful retreat, a complete victory for the Ameri- 
cans would probably have resulted. As it was, the British, 
much discomfited, withdrew in the night. 

The rest of this campaign of 1778 contains no startling 
successes or reverses. A French fleet appeared, but ac- 
complished nothing. In Pennsylvania there 

Other events occurred the dreadful massacre of Wyoming, 
of tne year. . . . 

The Indians, who had been won to the British 

side of the controversy, attacked the exposed settlements 
of the Wyoming Valley in northern Pennsylvania and 
Cherry Valley in New York. Houses were pillaged and 
burned ; men, women, and children were ruthlessly slain. 
An American army under General Sullivan was sent to 
punish the savages, and it accomplished the welcome task 
with thoroughness. Many of the red men were killed in 
battle, villages were razed to the ground, and the wide- 
spreading cornfields of the Iroquois were devastated. 

In the meantime events of more than trivial importance 
were happening in the far West. George Eogers Clark, a 
Warinth J^^^g Virginian, marched into the country 

West, north of the Ohio and took possession of it 

i778-'79. (1778). The British commander in the West 

was captured (February, 1779), and Detroit was the only 
important position which did not pass into our hands. 
Clark was one of the hardy frontiersmen, who, during 
these Eevolutionary days, with astonishing bravery and 
fortitude, were founding new settlements in Kentucky, 
then a portion of Virginia. The story of their achieve- 



THE KEVOLUTIOM ^1775^1783. 207 

ments, of their steadfast endurance, of their courage, of 
their skill in woodcraft has often been told ; it remains a 
story of unending interest. The names of Boone and Clark 
and Kenton and others not less bold can not be omitted 
from the list of those who toiled to make America.* 

In the summer of this year (1779) AVashington was ex- 
ceedingly desirous of retaking Stony Point, on the Hudson, 
Catnreof ^ very important position, which the British 

Stony Point, had forced the Americans to evacuate early in 
July 16, 1779. j^^^^ rp|^g attack was intrusted to General 
Wayne, and under his direction the Americans surprised 
the garrison and captured the defenses, taking over five 
hundred prisoners. 

Cheering news came from an unexpected quarter. John 
Paul Jones, a hardy Scotch sailor, who had lived for some 
years in Virginia, had been harrying the coast 
Jones!*^'^ of -England for some time. In the summer of 

1779 he had charge of a small fleet which, with 
the utmost audacity, hung off the eastern coast of England 
and Scotland, threatening destruction to exposed places. 
In the autumn occurred the great duel between the English 
frigate Serapis and Jones's flagship the Bon Homme Eich- 
ard. It was one of the bloodiest naval fights 
Sep^tember, ^^ history. The American vessel was' victo- 
rious. Jones was the hero of Europe. " His 
exploit was told and told again in the gazettes and at the 
drinking tables on the street corners." 

The winter of 1779-'80 was a gloomy one in America. 
The Northern army wintered at Morristown, where the 
Snfferinffat Suffering was very great. Washington wrote 
Morristown, (January 8, 1780): "The present situation of 
1779 '80. |.|^g army, with respect to provisions, is the most 

distressing of any we have experienced since the beginning 

* The story is graphically told in Winston Churchill's The Crossing, 
Book I, a novel in which the picture of western conditions is well por- 
trayed and much of the narrative is true to historical fact. 



208 



HISTORY OF THE AMERK^AN NATION. 



of the war. For a fortnight past the troops, both officers 
and men, have been perishing for want. They have been 
alternately without bread or meat the whole time ; . . . fre- 
quently destitute of both."* 

In the latter part of the year (1778) the British turned 
their attention to the Southern States. Savannah was taken. 
Through the summer of 1779 little happened there to give 




M k rner 

s F)vW!f^'*'' * " ^ THE REVOLUTION 

IN 

THE SOUTH 



the patriots heart. In the spring Lincoln was obliged to 
surrender Charleston to Clinton. Cornwallis took command 
Warm ^^ ^^^ British forces in the South and entered 

the South, on a vigorous campaign. "Washington remained 

i779-'80. ^^ ^j^g North to watch the central post of dan- 

ger — New York and the Hudson. Gates, who was sent to 
confront Cornwallis, began a career of incompetence, if not 
stupidity. The patriots of the Carolinas had arisen under 



* See Ford's writings of George Washington, vol. iii, pp. 155-161, 
etc. The volumes are full of interest. 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 209 

such able leaders as Marion and Sumter, and were fighting 
valiantly against the invader. On the 16th of August 
Gates was disastrously defeated in the battle 
A^°^usT'i780 ^^ Camden. He did not wait to make an or- 
derly retreat, but, leaving his army behind him, 
fled two hundred miles in three and a half days. Thus 
was put to the test the valor and skill of the man who had 
been plotting to succeed Washington, and whose talent 
was highly valued by many of the malcontents in Congress 
and the country. Some light now comes in the midst of 
^. , this gloom and despondency. In October, a 

Mountain, body of English and Tories was beaten by a 

October, 1780. fQ^ce of mountaineers and backwoodsmen in 
the battle of King's Mountain. This was one of the famous 
victories of the war. The British force was utterly defeated 
by an undisciplined force of " embattled farmers " who 
showed the energy, zeal, and bravery of the frontier.* 

AVhile these events were happening at the South the 

Americans narrowly escaped a severe disaster at the North. 

Benedict Arnold, one of the best fighters on the American 

side, disgusted and disheartened at his treatment by the 

American Congress, in a fit of envy and spite, 

teaslm^TBO entered into a plot to surrender West Point 

to the enemy. But the British messenger. 

Major Andre, returning from an interview with Arnold, 

was captured and the plot discovered. Andre was hanged 

as a spy. Arnold escaped to the enemy's lines, to reap his 

rewards of office and money from the English Government. 

At the beginning of 1781 no one would have dared to 

presage great victory for the American cause, or to expect 

the speedy close of the war. The English still 

Beginning of held New York ; in the South, where Cornwal- 

lis was in command, there seemed little hope 

of anything like immediate success for the patriot army. 

* Read Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, vol. ii, pp. 241-295. 
A very interesting book. 



210 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Washington, with praiseworthy self-control, remained in the 
North to guard against attack, and Greene took command 
of the troops in the South. Greene soon showed the quali- 
ties of a first-rate general, and proved that among the Amer- 
ican officers he was second to Washington alone. Corn- 
wallis was brilliant and daring, but was at first overconfi- 
dent and then desperate. He pressed vigorously northward. 
A detachment was overwhelmed by the Amer- 

j3r' 1781 ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^® ^^^^^^ ^^ *^^ Cowpens. The Brit- 
ish still pushed on to the North. Greene fell 
steadily back, hoping to lead Cornwallis into a place whepce 
he could not escape. In March was fought the battle of 
r^ ^^r :> n . Gullford Court Housc. The English were on 

G-mlford Court , ^ -, . . -, . t -, 

House, March, the whole Victorious, but too much weakened 
^'^^^' to go farther. Cornwallis retreated to Wil- 

mington, and seemed for the time to have abandoned his 
northward movement. Greene at first pursued the enemy ; 

then, turning abruptly, 
marched south into South 
Carolina. By the autumn 
the British forces in that 
State were shut up in 
Charleston, and the rest 
of the State was in the 
hands of the Americans. 

Cornwallis was puzzled 
by Greene's action. He 
decided, however, not to 
pursue him, but to go on 
to the North. He marched 
into Virginia. There he 
was baffled by Lafayette. 
"The boy can not escape 
me," he said ; but the 
young Frenchman, then only twenty-three years of age, 
was wary and cautious, and Cornwallis could not trap him. 




THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 211 

The situation, then, in the summer of 1781 was this : Wash- 
ington was at the North, planning an attack upon New 
York city, which had been held since August 
situation in of 1776 by the British; but he was furtively 
I'^Sl' watching Virginia. Greene was in South Caro- 

lina. Lafayette was leading Cornwallis a chase through Vir- 
ginia. Now, tired of his unsuccessful pursuit and strategy, 
Cornwallis returned to the coast and occupied a strong 
position at Yorktown. 

Washington saw his chance. He found that he could 
have the assistance of a French fleet that was expected in 
the Chesapeake. He abandoned his plan of 
surrender at Operations against New York and marched 
Yorktown, quickly to the South. Almost before Corn- 

^ ^ ^^' ' wallis could realize his danger he found him- 
self shut up in Yorktown. Early in October the bombard- 
ment of the works began, and on the 19th the besieged 
army surrendered, and filed out of its trenches as the band 
played an old English tune, " The world turned upside 
down." 

Upside down the world surely seemed. England had 
come out of the French and Indian War a great colonial 
power, glorying in her achievements, astonished at her own 
success. The surrender at Yorktown meant the 
The end of the ^^gg ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ promising and fruitful colo- 
nies. Everywhere she was beset and humbled. 
The obstinacy of George III and his ministers had found 
its reward. They had failed to understand the rudiments 
of English liberty. AVith the failure of the American war 
fell kingly presumption. Constitutional government was 
saved at home, saved by an insurrection in the colonies, 
saved by the loss of America. The King had set out at 
the beginning of his reign with a determination to be King 
indeed, and not the mere agent of Parliament. The Amer- 
ican war was in large part the result of his obstinacy and 
perseverance ; he had succeeded in keeping in office men 



212 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

that were out of sympathy with the nation, and were at 
times not in harmony with Parliament. In attacking the 
American principle, he had been attacking the fundamental 
principle of English liberty ; and had he been successful on 
this side of the water, his success might have well proved 
fatal to the liberties of England itself.* Upon the surren- 
der of Cornwallis, Lord North, the Prime Minister, was 
compelled to resign, and a Whig ministry succeeded to 
power. From that day parliamentary government was safe 
in England, f 
i^^^'V- The war was now unpopular in England, and a treaty 
of peace was only a matter of time. John Jay, Benjamin 
Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Lau- 
rens were appointed commissioners to agree upon terms of 

peace. Jefferson did not leave America, and 
SeTs ^1783°^' L^^^^^^^^s took no important part. Adams was 

busy in Holland and did not appear in Paris 
until much of the work had been done. The task therefore 
fell on the shoulders of tAvo men — Franklin, a wise coun- 
selor, and Jay, a young man of probity, daring, earnestness, 
and skill. Negotiations began in the summer of 1782. 
The commissioners were instructed by Congress to counsel 
with the " Ministers of our generous ally, the King of 
France," btit soon after the beginning of negotiations Jay 
made up his mind that France wished to please Spain, who 
had entered the war as her ally, by preventing the United 
States from getting possession of the West, or at least by 

* This is what Horace Walpole meant when he exclaimed, " If 
England prevails, English and American liberty is at an end." 

f " The American Revolution was a step in that grand march of 
civilized man toward larger freedom and better political institutions 
which began in Europe in the fifteenth century, and has continued to 
the present day. This movement was felt in England before the 
American plantations were made. . . . The American Revolution was 
the proper continuation of the English Revolution of 1642 and 1688." 
(Hinsdale, The American Government, p. 54.) 



THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 213 

shutting off the Americans from a considerable portion of 
the Western country between the Mississippi and the Ap- 
palachians. Jay was determined that Spain should secure 
no hold on the West because of any double-dealing on the 
part of France, and he induced Franklin to disregard their 
instructions and carry on the negotiations without consult- 
ing the French Minister. When Adams came upon the 
scene he agreed with Jay. How far Jay was justified in 
his suspicions is still a matter of some doubt. But whether 
he was right in his belief, or not, the situation was such 
that the British commissioners were induced to treat liber- 
ally with the Americans, and they finally agreed to a treaty 
which was very favorable to the United States. 

A preliminary treaty was signed November 30, 1782, and 
a definitive treaty the next September. The French minis- 
ters were themselves astonished at the success of the shrewd 
and bold American commissioners.* The northern boun- 
dary of the United States was made to run from the St. 
Croix Eiver to the highlands that divide the rivers that 
empty into the St. Lawrence from those that empty into 
the Atlantic, thence by the Connecticut Eiver, the forty- 
fifth parallel, the main channel of the St. Lawrence, and 
the middle of the Lakes to the Lake of the W^oods. The 
boundary line then ran down the Mississippi to the thirty- 
first parallel, thence eastward to the Appalachicola, and on 
to the Atlantic by the line that now forms the northern 
limit of Florida. 

These boundaries seem definite and the descriptions 

sufficiently accurate; but as a matter of fact these were 

drawn at a time when men were very ignorant 

fnlfiS' ^^ *^® geography of the North and West. Many 

disputes arose in after years, and nearly sixty 

years elapsed before our northern and northeastern boundary 

* See Fiske, Critical Period of American History ; McLaughlin, 
The Confederation and the Constitution, Chap. II. 



214 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

was finally established. At this same time England ceded 
the Floridas to Spain, meaning to convey the territory south 
of the boundary agreed upon with the United States * — at 
least such was our interpretation of the cession. 

Thus the Revolution ended with the American people 
in possession of a vast domain stretching from the ocean to 
the Mississippi, a territory several times as large as France, 
or much greater than that of any European power save 
Russia. Already there were visions of manifest destiny. 
The nation could not long remain a mere group of States 
scattered along the Atlantic coast. A great political and 
industrial future lay before it ; but it must first 

A new nation. ^ , j.i j e ^' ^ - ±- 

lind a proper method or national organization, 
must establish a suitable national government, must recog- 
nize in very fact the existence of a national life. Before 
these great things could be accomplished there were, as we 
shall see, years of confusion and times that tried men's 
souls. " The new-born republic narrowly missed dying in its 
cradle." 

References. 

Hart, The Formation of the Union, Chapter IV; Sloane, The 
French War and the Revolution, pp. 179-(i88; Channing, The United 
States of America, pp. 73-107; Higginson, Larger History, pp. 241- 
293; Lodge, George Washington; Fiske, The American Revolution; 
Lodge, The Story of the Revolution; Brooks, The Century Book of 
the American Revolution. Younger students will be especially in- 
terested in Fiske, War of Independence; Fiske, Washington and 
his Country, which is a simplified edition of Irving's Life of Wash- 
ington ; also Coffin, The Boys of '76 ; Van Tyne, The American Rev- 
olution. 

* Inasmuch as England had some years before established a prov- 
ince of West Florida, the northern limit of which was 32° 30', Spain 
maintained for some years that her possessions between the Appalachi- 
cola and the Mississippi extended up to this old boundary of West 
Florida. This matter was not arranged until 1795. See map, p. 219. 






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A Page of Washimgton's Accounts. 




^ UNITED STATES 

^ AT THE END OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. O 

SHOWING WESTERN LAND CLAIMS OF THE STATES 1783 



CHAPTER X. 
The Confederation and the Constitution— 1781-1789. 

DuRiKG nearly the whole course of the war the Central 
Government was the Second Continental Congress. There 
was no written instrument defining the power of this body. 
It used such powers as it needed to use or was permitted to 
use by the people. During those years political institutions 
were forming. Men were learning valuable political lessons 
from experience. The powers that were exercised by the 
Continental Congress were in nearly every particular those 
that were confided to the central authority when the writ- 
ten Articles of Confederation were agreed upon. 

In 1777 Articles of Confederation were proposed by Con- 
gress to the States, but they were not ratified by all until 
1781. By these Articles was formed what pur- 
CoImSoii''^ ported to be a " firm league of friendship " be- 
tween the States. The Central Government, 
if government it may be called, was a Congress composed 
of delegates annually appointed by the States, and to this 
body was given considerable authority. It alone had the 
right and power of declaring war or making peace, of send- 
ing or receiving ambassadors, of appointing courts for the 
trial of piracies or felonies on the high seas, of regulating 
tlie alloy and value of coin, of fixing the standard of weights 
and measures, of " establishing and regulating post offices 
from one State to another." It also could build and equip 
a navy and raise and support an army, and make requisi- 
tion for troops upon the States. The Congress was author- 

215 



216 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

ized to appoint a committee to sit in the recess of Congress, 
to be known as a " Committee of the States." In this Con- 
gress each State had one vote ; Delaware had quite as much 
voice as had Pennsylvania or Virginia. No step could be 
taken without the consent of a majority of the States, and 
for many important measures the consent of nine of them 
was necessary. All the States must agree to an amendment 
or alteration in the Articles. 

This Congress stood forth as the representative of the 
American people, and it had many duties and responsibili- 
ties; but there was no effectual means s^iven 
Their defects. 4. ,• ., i ^ • • x-u 

01 executing its laws or 01 raising the money 
which was so needful. No power was given it to collect 
taxes directly from individuals, or to levy duties on imports. 
The only way to get funds was to ask the States for them. 
Moreover, Congress could not execute its laws directly upon 
the citizens of the States, or compel obedience to treaties 
with foreign nations. It could recommend and advise, but 
it could not execute ; it was soon, therefore, in a condition 
where it could promise but could not perform. Without 
power over persons, it had no efficiency as a government.* 
Each State was now jealous in the extreme of any au- 
thority beyond its own borders. This narrow, selfish, short- 
sighted policy was due in part to the demoral- 
fe'lfilSel^*^*^ izing influences of the war, in part to the fact 
that the war had been carried on against an 
external foe, and now in the eyes of many "King Cong" 
had taken the place of King George. For some time after 
the peace local prejudices grew rankly. As a consequence, 
the requisitions and recommendations of Congress had little 
influence. The demands for money met with niggardly re- 
sponses. Each State seemed anxious to exalt itself at the 
expense of the nation. The trouble of the time is well put 



* The Articles of Confederation asserted that each State retained its 
sovereignty. Strictly, a confederation is a union of sovereign states. 



CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 217 

forth in a letter of Eobert Morris, who was now (1781-1784) 
acting as Superintendent of Finance, the first and the only 
man to bear that title in our history. " Imagine," he said, 
" the situation of a man who is to direct the finances of a 
country almost without revenue (for such you will perceive 
this to be), surrounded by creditors whose disasters, while 
they increase their clamors, render it more difficult to ap- 
pease them . . . ; a government whose sole authority con- 
sists in the power of framing recommendations." 

Under such circumstances great difficulties beset the 

impotent Confederation. Foreign nations looked askance 

at the new combination of republics, and for- 

Disorder m -^^ princes were in no hurry to be e^racious to 

foreign attairs. o j. j n ^ 

the dangerous democracy which had arisen from 
rebellion against authority. Congress had trouble in raising 
money in Europe even at enormous rates of interest ; for 
who would trust a government without visible means of sup- 
port ? Spain refused to give up much of the southwest and 
to allow the Americans free navigation to the Gulf — an im- 
portant fact because settlers were now moving into Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee in great numbers. The treaty of 1783 
was no sooner ratified than broken, both by England and 
America ; for the States refused to obey the provisions of the 
treaty which provided that British creditors should find no 
lawful hindrance in the collection of their debts, and Eng- 
land, anxious to secure the fur trade and the Indian alliance, 
retained possession of the forts in the northern and western 
part of our territory. " We are one to-day," said Washing- 
ton, "and thirteen to-morrow." No foreign government 
could respect a nation so organized. Washington, indeed, 
had early predicted " the worst consequences from a half- 
starved, limping government, always moving upon crutches 
and tottering at every step." 

But even more dangerous conditions appeared within 
the Union than without. The States were envious of one 
another. Each passed laws to increase its own commerce at 
16 



218 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

the expense of its neighbors. The States, with " no con- 
venient ports for foreign commerce, were subject to be 
j..^ , . taxed by their neighbors through whose ports 

among the their commerce was carried on. New Jersey, 
States. placed between Philadelphia and New York, 

was likened to a cask tapped at both ends ; and North Caro- 
lina, between Virginia and South Carolina, to a patient bleed- 
ing at both arms." * Difficulties arose between New York 
and New Jersey, between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, 
between Connecticut and New York, and between other 
States as well. " In sundry instances . . . the navigation 
laws treated the citizens of other States as aliens." There 
was actual danger of civil war among people who had just 
emerged from an eight years' struggle against a foreign foe. 
Within the respective States there was disorder and dis- 
tress. The paper-money craze wrought havoc in some. A new 

race of speculators arose to make the most of 
frInTimt° ^^^ situation. People who had been rich found 

themselves poor ; their farms were mortgaged 
or their trade was stopped, while perchance they had paper 
money by the bagful stored away in the attic. Business 
was so depressed that there were want and suffering. Eiots 
and mobs ensued. In Massachusetts a dangerous insurrec- 
tion broke out. Here, as everywhere, a good many men were 
out of work or could find no money to pay their debts, and, 
as is customarily the case in times of distress, the idle and 
the vicious saw an opportunity to right their fancied 
wrongs. Several hundred men came together under the 
leadership of one Daniel Shays, an old Continental captain, 
who seems to have been a weak and inefficient creature, un- 
fit to command or hold in check the rabble that followed 
his standard. Conflicts between the insurgents and the 
State troops ensued. The malcontents were especially bit- 

* From Mcadison, in the introduction to his notes on the Philadelphia 
Convention. Elliot's Debates, vol. v, p. 109. A valuable paper. 



CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 219 

ter in their hatred of courts and lawyers and they prevented 
the various courts from holding their regular sessions. By 
the energetic action of the State government the uprising 
was finally quelled, but the people of the whole land feared 
and wondered. They began to long for a national govern- 
ment with power, a government that could restore harmony 
between jealous States, able to win respect abroad, establish 
justice, and insure domestic tranquillity. 

In considering the difficulties of the situation calmly now 
we see how difficult it was to do the work of building up 
strong, substantial institutions, at the end of a war which 
had been distracting and had left a spirit of unrest behind 
it ; at the end of a war which had been waged to defend 
the liberty of the individual against government. Tlie 
political talk that men had heard for years from the dema- 
gogue and the statesman alike had been in praise of liberty, 
and now the shallow-pated or the vicious thought the time 
had come to live up to the doctrine and to get along with- 
out the burdens of a disagreeable, strong-handed govern- 
ment. They did not see that a good, efficient government 
might protect reasonable liberty. And then, too, after the 
war was over, when the time of recuperation was at hand, 
the land needed the Loyalists that had been banished or 
that had gone to England or over to Canada in search of 
new homes for themselves. For we must remind ourselves 
again that the Revolution was in many ways a civil war ; 
and the task, therefore, of readjustment, when peace came, 
was naturally fraught with the difficulties that sprang from 
internal confusion and social overturning. 

Before studying the steps that were taken to organize a 
new government and establish a permanent union, we must 
turn aside to notice the settlement of conflict- 
Western land • (,|g^ijj^g Qf ^j^g ^^^^^gg ^^ Western lands. 

claims. ® . 

Even before the independence of the United 
States had been acknowledged by Great Britain there had 
arisen much discussion over the ownership of the territory 



220 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

west of the mountains. Six of the States — New Hamp- 
shire, Eh ode Island, Kew Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
and Maryland — could set up no claim to this territory. 
Their boundaries were defined. The other States claimed 
lands stretching west to the Mississippi Eiver. South of 
the Ohio there was no good ground for much dispute. 
Each State might take possession of the lands lying directly 
to the west ; but to the lands north of the Ohio there were 
conflicting claims. Massachusetts and Connecticut based 
their titles on their old charters. Each claimed a strip of 
land extending through the Northwest. The land claimed 
by Massachusetts formed a large portion of what is now 
Wisconsin and the lower peninsula of Michigan. The 
Connecticut strip was chiefly in what is now northern Ohio, 
Indiana, and Illinois. New York set up a title to a vast 
territory in the West on the ground that she had received 
under her protection the Iroquois Indians and was lord of 
their domains. As scalping parties of these fierce warriors 
had wandered as far as the Mississippi and extorted tribute 
or homage, New York thus asserted ownership to nearly 
the whole of the Northwest. The claims of Virginia were 
strong. She based her title, first, on her early charter, which 
described her dominion as running up into the land " west 
and northwest " ; second, on the fact that George Eogers 
Clark had won this territory, and that it was the pluck 
and enterprise of Virginia that had secured it. 

Some of the States, hemmed in by definite boundaries, 
had hesitated to agree to the Articles of Confederation be- 
cause they feared the overweening influence of 
Western claims ^^^^ others who thus laid claim to a great do- 

given up, ^ 

minion in the West. Maryland was long per- 
sistent in her refusal to sign under such circumstances, and 
in fact did not do so until New York had yielded, and there 
was good reason to believe that all the other States would 
likewise relinquish their claims. Within a few years after 
the establishment of the Articles all the land northwest of 



COl^l^^EDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 221 

the Ohio was ceded to the United States.* Connecticut 
reserved a strip of land one hundred and twenty miles 
long south of Lake Erie. This was later given up by the 
State, but is still often called the " Western Reserve." Part 
of the territory south of the Ohio was ceded to the United 
States. At a later day Kentucky was organized as a State, 
without previous cession by Virginia.f 

These cessions of the West were of the utmost impor- 
tance. Thus it happened that these various commonwealths 
forming the Confederation had a common in- 
Results of terest in common property, and this interest 

GcSSlOUSi 

formed a strong bond of union when such ties 
were sorely needed ; and thus it happened that almost from 
the beginning of our national history we have had a wide 
public domain. Moreover, it was understood that the 
people of this new West were not to be held in subjection, 
but when the population was large enough, new States were 
to be admitted to the Confederation on an equality with 
the old. J Thus arose the idea of our wise system with re- 
gard to the Territories. 

Soon after the cession of the Northwest, plans for its 
government were discussed. In 1784 Jefferson submitted 
a plan for the government of all the Western country from 
its southern boundary to the Lakes. He proposed that 

* Connecticut had claimed a large portion of the northern part of 
Pennsylvania. This, however, was decided to belong to Pennsylvania. 
The little triangular piece in northwestern Pennsylvania was later 
ceded to that State by the National Government. Massachusetts also 
laid claim to a portion of what is now New York. The two States 
came to an agreement about it, the jurisdiction passing to New York. 

f North Carolina ceded Tennessee in 1790. 

l Congress declared that these lands should be settled and " formed 
into distinct republican States which shall become members of the 
Federal Union." " From this line of policy," says Johnston, "Congress 
has never swerved, and it has been more successful than stamp acts 
or Boston port bills in building up an empire." (Lalor's Cyclopaedia, 
vol. iii, p. 916.) 



222 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

slavery should not exist there after 1800 ; but this part of 

his plan was not carried, though a majority of the State 

delegations present in Congress at the time the 

^J?.?o!?^®^ vote was taken were in favor of it. The rest of 
of 1784 . 

the plan was adopted, but it was not put into 

operation. In 1787 was enacted the famous ordinance for 
tlio government of the territory northwest of the Ohioo 
Tliis provided for the organization of government. The 
first officials were to be a governor, secretary, and three 
judges appointed by Congress ; but as the population in- 
creased, the people were to be allowed a representation in 
the Government. Not less than three nor more 
than five States might be formed from the 
Territory and admitted to " a share in the Federal councils." 
Sound doctrines of civil liberty were announced. No per- 
son was to be molested on account of his mode of worship 
or religious sentiments. Each citizen was entitled to the 
writ of habeas corpus and trial by jury. Neither slavery 
nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime, 
was permitted; and the Territory and the States which 
might be formed from it were to remain forever " a part of 
this Confederacy of the United States of America." It 
announced in telling phrase that "religion, morality, and 
knowledge being necessary to good government and the 
happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education 
shall forever be encouraged." This is one of the wisest 
documents ever issued by a deliberative assembly. It had 
great weight in shaping later territorial organization. It 
kept the dark tide of slavery from inundating the North- 
west. The trials and failures of the dying Congress of the 
Confederation had been many, but the honor of this act 
rests with it. " I doubt," said Webster, " whether one single 
law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects 
of more distinct, marked, and lasting character than the 
ordinance of 1787." 

As we have already seen, while the discussion of the 



CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION~-1781-1789. 223 

"Western question was gomg on, the affairs of the nation were 
generally in a bad condition. It was apparent that Ameri- 
ca had not performed the political tasks that 
^ronfffr Union. ^^^® ^^^^ success of the Eevolutiou imposed ; 
some form of national organization better than 
tlie Confederation was imperatively demanded. The old 
Congress had come into being at a time of urgent need ; it 
had done what it could, and by its successes and failures had 
taught valuable lessons. The Articles of Confederation had 
attempted to grant to Congress some of the most essential 
powers of government, but the arrangement had been made 
early in the history of the war and the Articles at no time 
were a success as a working scheme. As the days went by, 
when once the war was over, it seemed to the anxious men 
of real intelligence and patriotism — men like Washington, 
Madison and Jay — as if the whole fabric of the Union 
would go to pieces, and the country, in distraction and 
helplessness, discredit free government and its own prin- 
ciples in the eyes of mankind. The country, to use Ham- 
ilton's words, presented an "awful spectacle"; there was 
a " nation without a national government." 

In 1786 the condition of the country was appalling. 
Spain was holding tight the mouth of the Mississippi, refus- 
ing the Western settlers access to the Gulf and a certain 
title to a large part of the Southwest. England was in 
possession of the posts on our northern fron- 

Perilsinl786. !. .,, . . -. m • t • ,- i 

tier, witnm our territory. Tripoli, a piratical 
power in northern Africa, keeping American sailors in cap- 
tivity, demanded a ransom for their surrender quite beyond 
the slender means of Congress. In Massachusetts a dan- 
gerous insurrection, threatening the very foundations of the 
Government, was in progress. The governments of seven of 
the thirteen States were in the hands of a party which be- 
lieved in the issue of paper money, the passing of " stay 
laws " to prevent the collection of debts, and other schemes 
which were bound to increase the prevailing confusion. 



224 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

The outlook was discouraging enough ; but in this dark 
year a movement was begun from which little was hoped and 
much came. There had long been a desire on 
Jonve^oT^' the part of Maryland and Virginia to reach an 
agreement concerning the navigation of their 
adjacent waters. A conference was held, and from this came 
a desire for a more general understanding among the States. 

Finally Virginia, under the influ- 
ence of James Madison, proposed 
a meeting of delegates from all 
the States, at Annapolis in Sep- 
tember (1786). The meeting was 
held, but only five States were rep- 
resented. The delegates adopted 
resolutions drafted by Hamilton, 
asking for a conference to be held 
at Philadelphia, the second Mon- 
day in May, 1787, "to take into 
consideration the situation of the 
United States, to devise such fur- 
r^^l/?7z^ -^^^^vW ^^®^ provisions as should appear 
to them necessary to render the 
Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the 
exigencies of the Union." 

In May this convention met ; a number of the delegates 
came late, but finally all of the States were represented save 
Rhode Island. It was plain that the serious 
Jonvrntion!^ Condition of the country had wrought well on 
the public mind, for the delegates were the able, 
wise, vigorous men of the land. Some, it is true, were still 
young in years, but even these were competent leaders 
among their fellows. Among the ablest were Washington 
and Franklin — both of whom, by virtue of their long un- 
selfish public service, had wide influence — James Madison 
of Virginia, James Wilson and Gouverneur Morris of Penn- 
sylvania, Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecti- 





CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION-1 781-1 789. 225 

cut, Alexander Hamilton of New York, and Eufns King of 
Massachusetts. Washington was chosen president of the 
assembly. The convention lasted 
four months, its members often 
despairing of success. So many 
differences arose that it seemed 
at times impossible to reach a 
reasonable conclusion. The great 

influence of Washington and ^Kt^i/^i/&^r 

Franklin contributed to harmony. 
It was determined at once to es- 
tablish a government with su- 
preme executive, legislative, and 
judicial departments. The adop- 
tion of this resolution meant 
that the convention 
s pnrposes. ^^^ ^^^ intend to patch up the Articles of Con- 
federation, but to found a real national government with 
power to act — to form a Constitution whose efficiency should 
not depend on the whim or caprice of the States. 

The first difficulty arose over the question of represen- 
tation in the Legislature of the new Government. Many 
of the delegates from the small States in this convention 
seemed merely solicitous for the dignity of their respective 
States, and anxious to preserve them from attack by secur- 
ing to them the same weight in national coun- 

wished even more than this, and demanded 
that the principle of the Confederation be perpetuated so 
that the Central Government should continue the creature 
of the States, which would thus form the basis of the new 
order as they had of the old. This, the Small State, party 
demanded that each State should have as many representa- 
tives as every other. 

On the other hand, the so-called Large State party, led 
by Madison, Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and King, insisted 



226 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



that the basis of the new Government was not to be the 
States, but the people, and that the States therefore should 
send representatives to the Congress of the 
Large State ^^^ Government in proportion to their popu- 
lation. It was wrong and illogical to give 
Delaware as many representatives as Pennsylvania or A"ir- 
ginia. Thus we see that a real fundamental question of 

principle was involved. The ex- 
tremists of the Small State party 
desired, in reality, a confederation 
of equal States ; the Large State 
party struggled for a gover?ime?if 
based upon the people. There- 
fore we might be justified in call- 
ing one party the State party, the 
other the National party.* 

The contest between these two 
factions was long and severe. At 
times it seemed as if there could 
be no agreement. " Gentlemen," 
exclaimed Bedford, of Delaware, 
" I do not trust you. . . . Sooner 
than be ruined, there are foreign 
powers who will take us by the hand." By a vote of six 
to five the convention decided in favor of proportional rep- 
resentation in the more numerous branch of 
Struggle and ^^^ Legislature. But it was impossible for the 

compromise. ^ ^ 

Large State party to secure that basis for rep- 
resentation in the other branch. A compromise was at 
length agreed upon, whereby each State was to have two 




J(mU^uJ *^i^ 



^ 



* The States that voted for proportional representation (the Large 
State party) were Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Caro- 
lina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Of these the first three were really 
large States. Five States voted against proportional representation : 
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. New 
Hampshire came too late to take part in the first critical vote. 



CONFRDEllATION AND CONSTTT. ^)N— 1781-1789. 227 

senators, while the House was to have the right to originate 
all bills for raising revenue. Thus was formed the first 
compromise of the Constitution. 

The student should see clearly the real c^^ntroversy, 
the real difference between the Large State men and the 
Small State men. The former were for a government 
hased on the. people^ receiving its ])(mer directly from, the 
people^ and touching the States as little as possible. Tlie 
Sifiall State men were in part divided : they all wanted 
equal representation of the States ; but some of them were 
not opposed to a national government, while others desired 
to preserve the principle of the Confederation — to maintain 
the equal sovereignty of the States. 

But after this first and important agreement on the sub- 
ject of representation and the character of the new Govern- 
ment had been reached, there remained many 
Slavery causes other difficulties to be overcome. These arose 

trouble. 

largely from the fact that the industrial inter- 
ests of the Southern States were essentially different from 
the Northern, the former being built upon slave labor, the 
latter upon free. It stands to the everlasting credit of 
Madison, Mason, and others from Virginia that they de- 
nounced slavery and the slave traffic; but the delegates 
from the States of the far South were anxious for more 
slaves and for the protection of the system. Another ques- 
tion arose : Should slaves be counted in determining the 
basis of representation of the States, or should they, since 
they were held as property, be no more taken into account 
than the sheep and oxen of the Northern farmer? Again, 
the Southern States generally were, to use Mason's words, 
" staple States " — that is, they raised raw material and 
exported a large part of it. They feared that, if Congress 
were given authority to regulate commerce, the power 
would be used to tax exports and destroy Southern trade. 
These differences were finally settled by various bargains or 
compromises. 



o 



228 HISTOR^^. OF THE AMP]RICAN NATION. 

In determin?.ig the basis of representation and of direct 
taxation, it v^jls decided that five slaves should count as 
three freemen.* Slaves were to be admitted 
until the 1st of January, 1808, but in the 
meantiii.o Congress should have power to levy a duty of ten 
dollars on each person so imported. f Congress was given 
full authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, 
but was prohibited from levying an export duty.| 

The Constitution was signed by delegates from all the 
States represented in the convention on the 17th of Sep- 
tember, but not by all the delegates. Three 
Constitution ^^^ ^^^^ present refused to sign ; thirteen had 

agreed upon. ^ ^ ' 

left during the course of the convention. Only 
thirty-nine, therefore, out of the fifty-five members gave 
their final consent. When such evidences of differing opin- 
ions appeared in this assembly of wise men, what hope 
could there be of the success of the Constitution when dis- 
cussed before the people ? It was laid before the Congress 
of the Confederation, and was then submitted by this Con- 
gress " to a convention of delegates chosen in each State 
by the people thereof." 

The new Constitution was essentially different from the 
Articles. The new Government was not to be the agent of 
the States and dependent on State generosity for funds, 
or on State humor for obedience. It was to spring from 
the people and to have power over the people. The pre- 
amble of the Constitution states that " we, the 
chlractef ^^ people, . . . do ordain and establish this Consti- 
tution." The laws of the Government were to 
be direct commands to persons. It could raise money with 

* See the Constitution, art. i, sec. 2. f Ibid., art. i, sec. 9, § 1. 

X Constitution, art. i, sec. 9, § 5. The importation of slaves till 1808 
was sufficient to fasten the slavery system permanently on the South. 
Doubtless without importation it would have been difficult to root out 
the system. As to the effect of the three-fifths compromise, see Gay's 
Madison, pp. 99, 100. 



CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 229 

its own machinery and compel obedience with its own offi- 
cers. Great political powers were given to the new Govern- 
ment, powers general in their nature, such as the right to 
make peace or war, conduct negotiations with foreign gov- 
ernments, raise armies and equip navies, establish post 



Federal 



reared,. 




From the Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, Boston, Thursday, June 12, 1788. 

offices and post roads, regulate commerce among the States 
or with foreign nations. All power was not bestowed on 
the National Government, but only certain enumerated 
powers ; the rest belonged to the States or to the people, 
unless the Constitution forbade their use by any govern- 
mental authority. There were thus created immediately 

The Ninth VILLAR erected / 

** The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, (hall be fuffieient for the ■eftaUlifh-f 
raent of this Conftitution, between the States fo ratifying the fame." Art. vii. 

INCIPIENT MAGNI PROCEDEUE MENSES. 




From the Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, Boston, Thursday, June 26, 1788. 



over every citizen two governments, occupying each a dif- 
ferent sphere of political action, and each having power to 
order and compel obedience. The distinguishing feature of 
this new republic was this distriiution of political author- 
ity between the Central Government on the one hand and 
the commonwealths that composed the Union on the other. 



230 HISTOKY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Moreover, the form of the new Government was differ- 
ent from that of the old. Power was divided between sep- 
^ , arate departments, and each department was 

Its form. , 1 • 1 . -, -. 

to be in large measure independent of the 
other. A single person, the President of the United States, 
was given executive authority. The experiences of the 
confederation had taught that one man can execute the 
laws more vigorously and sensibly than many. The legis- 
lative power was intrusted to two bodies of nearly equal 
power, that one might act as a check and a balance to the 
other. An independent judiciary was provided for, the 
judges to be appointed by the Executive with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, to hold office during good be- 
havior. Thus the separation of the powers of government, 
which was thought to be essential for the preservation of 
liberty, formed an important part of the new plan.* 

Conventions were summoned in all the States save obsti- 
nate little Ehode Island, to pass upon the new Constitution. 

The people of eleven States ratified the instru- 

^hM^l ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^® ®"^ o* 1^^^- This decision, 
however, was reached only after prolonged dis- 
cussion and debate. In some of the States the outcome was 
doubtful almost to the end. Virginia, Massachusetts, and 
New York were the most doubtful States. Here the Con- 
stitution had formidable opponents and no less able defend- 
ers. The ratification in the New York convention was due, 
in large part, to the eloquence and able statesmanship of 
Hamilton. During the progress of the discussion, Hamil- 
ton, Madison, and John Jay wrote a series of articles for the 

* Students of history and of poHtics believed that the powers of 
government should be classified according to their nature, and that the 
same body should not be possessed of two essentially different kinds of 
power. "If it be," said Madison, "a fundamental principle of free 
government that the legislative, executive, and judiciary powers should 
be separately exercised, it is equally so that they be independently exer- 
cised." (Madison's Journal of the Convention, July 19th.) 



CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 231 

press, commenting on the character of the Constitution. 
These papers, gathered into a volume called the Federalist, 
constitute a great work on the science of government, one 
of the most famous books ever written in America. 

Some of the State conventions would have rejected the 
Constitution had its supporters not agreed that after the 
organization of the new Government amendments should 
be added in the nature of a bill of rights to guard against 




Map showing Distribution of Population in 1790. 

tyrannical action on the part of the central authority. The 
first ten amendments to the Constitution were afterward 
agreed to in accordance with this understanding.* North 
Carolina did not become a member of the new Union till 
November, 1789. Ehode Island gave up her pretensions to 
independence in 1790. 

The Constitution thus established was in one sense not 
a new creation. It was more than the outcome of a confer- 



* The first ten amendments were declared in force December 15, 1791. 
They are restrictions on the power of the National Oovernment, and do 
not bind the States. 



232 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATIONo 

ence of wise men. It was tlie result of experience, and was 
in itself a growth. Its main characteristics were the prod- 
ucts of the time. The very failures of the 
o^hXy!'* Confederation had shown the proper basis. 
In the details, of the machinery of govern- 
ment there was little that was absolutely new. The fram- 
ers drew from the history of other nations, from their 
knowledge of the English law and institutions, but most of 
all from their political experience. A large part of the new 
instrument was taken, with slight change, from one or an- 
other of the State constitutions, which, we must remember, 
were in part built on colonial charters or based on colonial 
practices. This fact, however, does not detract from the 
wisdom of the framers of the federal Constitution. They 
were at once scholars and men of affairs, students of history 
and of practical politics. The goodness of their handiwork 
resulted from their wise appreciation of the teachings of the 
past, and the clever joining together of the best and safest 
material that the tide of history brought to their feet.* 

References. 

Hart, The Formation of the Union, pp. 102-135; Walker, The 
Making of the Nation, pp. 1-73; Morse, Alexander Hamilton, Chap- 
ters III and IV; Lodge, George Washington, Volume II, Chapter 
I; Pellew, John Jay, Chapter IX; Tyler, Patrick Henry, Chapters 
XVII-XIX; Schouler, History, Volume I, pp. 1-74; Fiske, Critical 
Period ; McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol- 
ume I, Chapters I-V; McLaughlin, The Confederation and The Con- 
stitution. 

* " The American Constitution is no exception to the rule that 
everything which has power to win the obedience and respect of men 
must have its roots deep in the past ; and that the more slowly every 
institution has grown, so much the more enduring is it likely to prove. 
There is little in the Constitution that is absolutely new. There is 
much tliat is as old as Magna Charta." (Bryce, The American Com- 
monwealth, vol. i, p. 29.) 



CHAPTER XL 

Federal Supremacy — Organization of the Government— 
1789-1801. 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON— 

1789-1797. 

The Congress of the confederation made the necessary- 
arrangements for ushering in the new Government and then 
Establishment expired.* The election of President was ap- 
ofthe pointed for the first Wednesday in January, 

Government. ^^^c^^ ^-j^e meeting of the electors for the first 
Wednesday in February, and the inauguration of the Gov- 
ernment and the real beginning of the new order for the 
first Wednesday in March. It happened that the first 
Wednesday in March fell on the 4th of that month, and 
thus it came about that March 4th is the day when a new 
President and a new Congress assume the duties of office. 
As a matter of fact, however. Congress did not assemble at 
the appointed time. Its members leisurely came together 
in Xew York, where the Government was to be organized, 
and there was not a quorum of the House of Eepresenta- 
tives till the 1st of April, or of the Senate till some days 
later. 

When the votes for President were counted in the pres- 
ence of the two houses, it was found that Washington had 

* The confederate Congress continued in formal existence till March 
2, 1789. " It then flickered and went out without any public notice." 
One of the men at the time said it was hard to say whether the old 
government was dead or the new one alive. 

17 233 



234 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN KATION. 



been unanimously elected President, and that John Adams, 
having received the next greatest number of ballots, was 
Washin0-ton ^l^cted Vice - President.* Washington's jour- 
elected and ney from Virginia to New York was a long 
inaugurated. triumphal progress. The people gathered 
everywhere to pay a reverent respect to the man whose 
greatness was deeply felt and honored. Not till the 30th 
of April did he take the oath of office. The place was the 

Senate balcony of Federal 
Hall. The scene was an im- 
pressive one. One of the 
greatest of the world's great 
men consecrated himself 
anew to the service of his 
country, and entered upon 
the duty of giving life and 
vigor to the new Government 
of the young nation. After 
the oath had been taken 
Washington read to Con- 
gress, assembled in the Senate 
chamber, his inaugural ad- 
dress. "It was very touch- 
ing," we are told by a spec- 
tator, "and quite of the solemn kind. His aspect grave 
almost to sadness ; his modesty, actually shaking ; his voice 
deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close 
attention ; added to the series of objects presented to the 
mind and overwhelming it, produced emotions of the most 
affecting kind upon the members." 

Even before the inauguration the House had entered 
earnestly upon the work of legislation. The great need of 




* By the Constitution as it then was, each elector cast two votes 
without designating which was for President and which for Vice- 
President. Constitution, art, ii, sec. 1, § 3. 



ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 235 

the new Goyernment was money, and so the House began 
at once the consideration of a tariff bill. One was passed 
« early in the summer, and a national income 

Congress -^ ' 

begins was thus secured. It proved in a short time 

legislation. j-q ^q inadequate, and the duties were increased. 
This and other means of obtaining money soon gave the 
Government dignity and won it respect. 

But much besides the raising of funds was necessary to 
put the new Government into running order. The Consti- 
tution, general in its provisions, did not outline 
Executive j^^ detail the forms and methods that must be 

departments. , . . • «. 

followed m giving it enect. Many new oinces 
must be established and their duties declared. The expe- 
riences of the war and the Confederation had shown the 
value of single administrative officers, and the Constitution 
provided that the President could " require the opinion, in 
writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive de- 
partments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their 
respective offices." * Congress now passed bills to form 
three such departments — State (at first called Foreign Af- 
fairs), Treasury, and War. The Post Office was continued 
on its old footing, and the office of Attorney-General was 
established. This officer soon became an important person 
in the administration because of his duty to give the Presi- 
dent legal advice, but he was not at first at the head of 
what was strictly an executive department. 

To the offices thus established Washington appointed 
.able men. Thomas Jefferson, then absent in France, was 

upon his return made Secretary of State, as- 
WasWngton's guming the duties of the office in 1790. The 

appointments. ^ „ , . . , » i -, 

Treasury portfolio was given to Alexander 
Hamilton, then a young man hardly more than thirty-two 
years of age, possessed of wonderful executive ability, with 
a strong grasp of details and a firm comprehension of prin- 

* Constitution, art. ii, see. 2, § 1. 




236 



ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 23^ 

ciples. He had long been interested in the disordered 
finances of the Confederation, and Washington thought 
him the man to bring order out of the confusion that every- 
where prevailed. For this task he was specially qualified. 
All matters seemed to take form and arrange themselves in 
passing through his mind. His task was a difficult one. 
" Finance ! " said Gouverneur Morris to Jay at one time ; 
" Ah, my friend, all that remains of the American Revolu- 
tion grounds there." The fate of the Constitution seemed 
to depend upon the success with which order was brought 
out of the disorder that had been inherited from the war 
and the critical period. Henry Knox, an excellent officer 
and an able man, head of the War Department under the 
Confederation, was made Secretary of War. Edmund Ran- 
dolph was appointed Attorney-General. 

We must remember that the Constitution does not pro- 
vide for a Cabinet, but simply speaks of executive depart- 
The American ^^^^s. In fact, even the English Cabinet was 
Cabinet a not SO clearly defined then as now ; its f unc- 

growth. ^^Qj^g ^QYQ ^^j. gQ evident and well understood. 

So that we ought not to expect that, inasmuch as the Ameri- 
cans had had no experience with a Cabinet, the heads of the 
executive departm.ents would be formed at once into a 
single body, bent on carrying out a well-recognized policy. 
At the present time the members of the President's Cabinet 
meet together at intervals ; in these meetings great ques- 
tions of state are discussed, and it is thought desirable that 
there should be, in a very general way, harmony and co-opera- 
tion, at times even a definite Cabinet policy. This state of 
things is, however, the result of growth. ISTo such con- 
dition existed in 1789 — indeed was hardly possible — for as 
yet there were no political parties with a distinct programme 
of action. Washington sometimes called the heads of de- 
partments together for consultation, sometimes asked for 
their individual opinions in writing, or for the advice of one 
alone. 



238 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



As it turned out, Washington's first Cabinet contained 
men who by training and temperament were quite diverse. 
Two opposite tendencies in political life were 
elements in the represented in it. On many questions pre- 
Cabinet. sented for discussion, Hamilton and Jefferson 

took diiferent positions. With the former, Knox was apt to 
agree, while Jefferson and Randolph were often opposed to 

the other two. Jefferson Avas 

a man of great ability, and 
was a statesman of wide 
powers. He was strongly 
democratic in his sympa- 
thies, believing that the peo- 
ple at large were the purest 
and safest source of politi- 
cal power and opinion. He 
was given to sentiment, if 
not to sentimentality, and 
he was not always strong as 
an administrator. During 
his political career in Vir- 
ginia he had attacked the 
aristocratic institutions of 
the colony and State, and he now had no sympathy with 
governments or organizations whose tendency was to check 
free growth and free thinking. He played no such part as 
Hamilton and Washington in bringing about order and sys- 
tem and establishing the new Government. His greatness 
lay in the fact that he appreciated the sentiment or s])irit 
of popular government, a spirit that was destined to be the 
ruling force in the great republic, which was then organ- 
izing itself for effective work. In tliis sympatliy he was 
opposed to many men of that time who believed with Jolm 
Adams that " the rich, well-born and the able " were quali- 
fied to rule. Wliile Hamilton was not entirely out of sym- 
pathy with popular government, he rejiresented the con- 




ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 239 

servative elements of the nation. His power was in admin- 
istration, in bringing order out of disorder. He had no 
fear of an energetic and efficient government, and felt 
keenly the necessity of such government after experience 
with the discord and turbulence of the critical period. 

At this first session of the First Congress, Federal courts 
were established. Besides the Supreme Court, Circuit and 

District Courts were provided for. All cases 
^t^WiTd ^^^^^ under the Constitution might come under 

Federal jurisdiction were not confided to these 
courts alone, but the State courts were allowed concurrent 
jurisdiction in many cases. To avoid obscurity and con- 
fusion by differing interpretations of national laws, and to 
avoid the possibility that the effect and nature of Federal 
statutes should be permanently decided by the State courts 
in such a way as to detract from the power and efficiency 
of the National Government, provision was made for an 
appeal from the Supreme Court of a State to the Supreme 
Court of the United States of cases (1) where a decision 
had been rendered in the State court denying the validity 
of some Federal statute or treaty ; or (2) refusing to recog- 
nize a privilege claimed under the Federal Constitution, laws, 
or treaties ; or (3) where the validity of a State law under 
the Constitution of the United States had been called in 
question and the State court had held such law valid.* By 
this method the supremacy of national law was to be secured 
without trouble or vexation to the States, f The Federal 
courts are to-day arranged on the same general plan as 
that outlined in this famous statute, which was largely the 
work of Oliver Ellsworth, of Connecticut. The first chief 
justice appointed was John Jay, a man of rare purity and 
sweetness of character, with good legal knowledge and a 

* The Constitution provides for one Supreme Court and other courts 
that Congress may establish (see Constitution, art. iii). Congress, how- 
ever, needed to provide for the Supreme Court also. 

f See the Constitution, art. vi, § 2. 



240 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



wide experience in affairs of State. The peculiar duties of 
our first justices demanded the wisdom of the statesman 
even more than the learning of the lawyer. 

Hamilton set about the task of bringing order into the 
deranged finances of the country. Upon request, he pre- 
pared a report and submitted it to Congress at its second 
session. He showed that the debt of the United States was 
about fifty-four million dollars, including arrears of inter- 
est — a vast sum for that day. He proposed to 
P ° issue new certificates of indebtedness, and to 

receive in payment the old evidences of indebtedness. The 
new certificates were to be issued on more favorable terms 

to the Government than the 
old. It was resolved by Con- 
gress to pay in full the debt 
which we owed abroad; but 
many objected to paying the 
home debt in full, because the 
paper had been so depreciated 
that a payment at face value 
would simply pour loads of 
dollars into the hands of specu- 
lators who had bought up the 
old paper. Hamilton, however, 
argued for straight downright 
honesty, without distinction of 
persons. He believed that the 
Government promises to pay 
must be redeemed in full. A 
bill was finally passed by Con- 
gress providing for the payment of the domestic as well as 
the foreign debt in substantial accord with Hamilton's 
suggestions. 

Hamilton proposed at the same time that the State 
debts should be assumed and paid by the National Govern- 
ment, on the ground that they were actually incurred in 




ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 241 

behalf of the common weal. This proposal met with vigor- 
ous objection, and a bill for the purpose was defeated at this 
session. About the same time, however, there 
ihecapitaL *^ ^'^^ great discussion ov^ the location of the 
permanent capital. This seems a trivial mat- 
ter, but men became very much excited about it, as if the 
fate of the nation were at stake in the decision. Finally a 
bargain was struck. Hamilton secured Northern votes for 
a Southern capital, and Jefferson was instrumental in se- 
curing Southern votes for assumption of the State debts, a 
measure more favored by the Northern and Eastern than the 
Southern States. The site on the Potomac was soon af- 
terward selected. 

Among other plans of Hamilton were the laying of an 
excise and the establishment of a national bank. At the 
final session of the First Congress (winter of 
1790-'91) such measures were proposed. There 
was bitter opposition to the excise, for it seemed to many 
that the secretary, in order to magnify his office and to ex- 
alt national power unduly, was striving to obtain all sources 
of taxation for the Federal Government. The bill was finally 
passed after a sharp debate. It provided for a tax on liquors, 
and it was humorously suggested tnat it would be like 
" drinking down the national debt." 

Hamilton advocated a bank, on the ground that it would 
be of assistance to the Government in borrowing money and 
carrying on its financial business, and that it 
would be of service in furnishing a circulating 
medium. The plan caused great discussion in the House. 
Hamilton's financial measures had already won him a de- 
voted following,, but a strenuous and vigorous opposition 
was now forming. Madison was its leader. He had favored 
the excise, but he now argued strongly against the bank bill. 
The main argument of its opponents was that it was un- 
constitutional, that the Federal Government had not been 
given the authority to establish a corporation. A bill in 



242 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

practical agreement with Hamilton's proposals was at length 
carried through hoth houses. It provided for a bank with 
a capital of ten million dollars. The Government was to 
he a stockholder, an4 subscriptions to a large portion of 
the stock were to be made in United States bonds. The 
effect of this would be to make a demand for the bonds, 
and thus help the credit of the Government. All interested 
in the bank would be sure to be interested in the stability 
of the Government. 

Before signing the bill Washington asked from the 
members of his Cabinet their written opinions. The re- 
plies of Hamilton and Jefferson are great State 
oonitSonT^ papers. They clearly mark out doctrines of 
two distinct schools of political thought and 
two distinct methods of interpreting the Constitution. Jef- 
ferson, anxious to keep the central authority within narrow 
limits, argued that the Government did not have the right 
to establish a bank, because no such power had been ex- 
pressly granted in the Constitution, and because it was not 
necessary for carrying out any of the powers that were 
granted. He thus advocated what is known as " strict con- 
struction" of the Constitution. Hamilton, on the other 
hand, argued that the Government had the right to choose 
all means that seemed suitable and proper for carrying out 
effectually the powers intrusted to it by the Constitution.* 
He thus laid down the doctrine of " implied powers," and 
advocated a "broad" construction of the Constitution. 
Here, then, were stated by these two secretaries fundamen- 
tal ideas that were to form the basic principles of contend- 
ing parties. 

Before the end of Washington's first term political par- 
ties were organized. They were largely formed in conse- 

* See the Constitution, art. i, sec. 8, § 18. The right of Congress to 
choose means for carrying out its power does not rest simply on this 
clause of the Constitution, but is a reasonable inference from the 
whole. 



ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 243 

quence of sympathy with or antagonism to Hamilton's 
plans, which plainly enough tended not simply to establish 
sound financial conditions, but to give power 
and efficiency to the central authority. It was 
believed by many that the wily secretary was making use 
of his position by various vicious methods to bring and hold 
together a monarchical party, and that repub- 
party/^^ ^^^^ lican institutions were endangered by the 
schemes and machinations of what Jefferson 
called the "corrupt squadron." These persons, so opposed 
to Hamilton's measures and suspicious of his devices, were 
now crystallizing into a party. Its leaders were Jefferson 
and Madison. It soon called itself the Eepublican party, 
but was often stigmatized by its opponents as democratic, a 
word not then in good odor because of the excesses of the 
French Revolution committed in the name of liberty and 
fraternity. It believed that the rights of the States should 
be defended against encroachments on the part of the Na- 
tional Government. Distrust of government and faith in 
the people were its dearest principles. Although Jeffer- 
son's suspicions of Hamilton's monarchic designs were quite 
unfounded, and much of this early opposition to Federal 
measures was unwise, it was well that a party was formed 
with democracy for its substantial faith, a party whose aim 
was — to use Jefferson's quaint words — " the cherishment of 
the people." The defenders of the Hamiltonian policy still 
called themselves Federalists, the word assumed 
by the supporters of the' Constitution when it 
was before the people for ratification. Their opponents 
were often called Anti-Federalists, although, as suggested 
above, when p:irties Tfere really formed (1792-'93) the Jef- 
f ersonian party was more properly designated as Republican 
or Democratic. The Federalists were broad construction- 
ists, believers in a strong central government. They came 
in good part from the commercial States. The Repub- 
licans were strict constructionists, and on the whole were 



244 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

from the agricultural States. Industrial conditions of the 
different sections of the country did much to determine 
party beliefs and tendencies. Commerce is essentially gen- 
eral, not local, and thus its followers favored a strong gen- 
eral government — a government that could insure free com- 
mercial intercourse and protect trade. 

By the end of Washington's first term it was plain 
enough that the new Government had elements of success 
National ^^^ permanence. There was evidence of pros- 

prosperity perity everywhere, of renewed hope, and of 

and union. business energy. National parties had sprung 

into existence, and, though one of them was opposed on 
principle to the development of the power of the Federal 
Government, the co-operation among advocates of party 
doctrine, from one end of the country to the other, was a 
bond of real union, bringing the people into a closer and 
more sympathetic relation than had existed before in the 
era of the Confederation, when sympathies were often cut 
short by State boundaries. The new nation had evidently 
won attention if not respect abroad, but its international 
trials are best considered as a whole in connection with 
Washington's second term. 

Washington desired to retire at the end of his first term, 
but was persuaded to accept another election. The discord 
Part d ^^ ^^^^ Cabinet, which had by this time become 

personal serious, troubled him very much. Hamilton 

enmities. ^^^ Jefferson, to use the latter's own expres- 

sion, "were pitted against each other like two fighting 
cocks." Jefferson thought the Secretary of the Treasury 
a corrupt and scheming enemy of republicanism, an in- 
triguing monarchist. Hamilton thought that the Secretary 
of State was a demagogue, who cloaked a rankling ambition 
under professions of fear for popular well-being. Washing- 
ton's efforts to restore peace were fruitless. He had not 
known hitherto the depth and rancor of party feeling. Co- 
lonial history had given no indication of such party organi- 



ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 245 

zations, and hence he and others were astounded at what 
seemed to be unaccountable ill feeling. But, as we have 
seen, the differences, though needlessly bitter and personal, 
were natural ones,* and these two men were but representa- 
tives of different thoughts and feelings in the country at 
large. Spite of all these party clashings and personal en- 
mities Washington was again unanimously elected. The 
opposition was directed against Adams, who was, however, 
chosen Vice-President by a good majority. 

Without attempting to follow out in chronological order 
the events of Washington's second administration, let us 

see what the chief troubles and achievements 
RebeSnf^ were. One of the difficulties to be overcome 

was the resistance to the excise law. This re- 
sistance was especially strong in western Pennsylvania. 
The opposition was formidable. Mobs intimidated the tax 
collectors, and even used tar and feathers to emphasize 
their disapproval ; public meetings denounced the atrocious 
interference of the Federal Government in the " natural 
rights of man." f In 1794 opposition became rebellion. 
It was high time for the authorities to take decisive action. 
Fifteen thousand militia were called out, and, accompanied 
by Hamilton himself, they marched to the scene of disorder. 
Eesistance was hopeless, and it ceased. Even the distant 
frontier was thus made aware that a National Government 
was in existence, and that it could enforce its laws. It is a 
striking proof, however, of the dangers and trials that beset 

* It was inevitable that men should differ regarding the power and 
scope of the new Government; inevitable, too, that they should differ 
regarding the trust and confidence to be bestowed on the whole people ; 
inevitable that, under the circumstances, some men should dread the 
establishment of monarchy and see visions of tyranny where danger did 
not exist. 

f Whisky actually took the place of money in the Western country. 
A gallon of whisky was worth a shilling, and therefore a tax of seven 
cents a gallon seemed very severe. 



246 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

the establishment of the Government, that three years had 
passed by before these steps were taken to crush lawlessness 
in a few counties of the frontier. 

Most of the difficulties of these years were connected 
with foreign affairs. Politically independent of any Euro- 
pean powers, our country was still industrially 
Troubles with dependent. Moreover, the nation was weak, 
and its power was not respected by foreign 
governments. England had long refused to treat us as an 
equal. Not till 1791 did she send a minister to this coun- 
try. The treaty of 1783 had not been fulfilled by either 
party. England retained possession of the military posts 
on our Northern and Western frontier within the limits of 
the United States. She gave as her excuse that, contrary 
to the treaty, the loyalists had been persecuted, and the 
British creditors prevented from collecting sums due them 
by American citizens. Her charges — at least during the 
time of the Confederation — had too much truth in them ; 
but her main reason for retaining the Western posts was 
her desire to control the fur trade and to maintain her in- 
fluence over the Indians. 

In 1793 war broke out between France and England. 
This put the United States into an embarrassing position. 
War between ^^® ^^^® bound by the treaty of 1778 to allow 
England and France certain privileges in our ports not 
France. granted other nations, and common gratitude 

might seem to force us to her side as an active ally. True, 
the French had not entered the Revolutionary War so much 
for the purpose of helping America as of injuring England, 
but they seemed to the men of that time generous bene- 
factors. If by assisting France we should be drawn into 
war with England, it might bring complete disaster. The 
country was just beginning to hold up its head, and to look 
prosperous and hopeful after the trials of the Confederation. 

Washington concluded that we were at least morally 
justified in disregarding the French treaty, and he issued 



ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 247 

a proclamation of neutrality. Just as he did so a minister 

from the new French republic landed at Charleston. He 

began at once to fit out privateers to prey 

Genet. -du'-u a i^i.- 

upon British commerce, and proceeded to vio- 
late the neutrality of the United States and to act in gen- 
eral as if he were justified in doing what he pleased. He 
demanded, in a lofty tone, various favors from the Govern- 
ment, and finally was so impertinent and so outrageous in 
his conduct that Washington asked for his recall. The 
most discouraging thing about the whole affair was that 
this fellow. Genet, was hailed as a hero as soon as he landed 
on American soil. Men that were in shivering dread lest 
Washington or Hamilton should make himself a king, were 
ready to pay kingly honors to this man whose conduct was 
directed to bringing on another war with England, all in 
the name of liberty, equality, and the rights of man. Wash- 
ington was actually attacked in venomous newspaper arti- 
cles, and held up as the enemy of freedom and the friend of 
monarchy and corruption. Fortunately, the insulting mis- 
conduct of Genet* and the intemperate clamors of the 
French partisans ended in winning to the side of the Gov- 
ernment the sober-minded citizens who had sense enough 
to see the real situation. 

But affairs were long in a critical condition. So ex- 
travagant in their actions and conduct were many of the 

people that insurrection within or war with- 
.^Ll^i^r.. out seemed at times almost inevitable. Eng- 

a/g^rcssiouSi 

land meantime, instead of wisely seeking to 
conciliate and win us, was exasperating in the extreme. 
American merchantmen on the high seas were plundered, 
on the ground that they were bound with provisions to 
French ports and that provisions were " contraband of war " ; 

* Under authority from the French Government, Genet planned not 
only to cement a close alliance with America, but, with the assistance of 
the frontiersmen of the Mississippi Valley, to attack Spain's possessions 
in Louisiana and Florida, and to win Canada for " liberty and equality." 



248 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

seamen were taken from American vessels and forced to do 
service on EngHsli frigates ; and in other ways the com- 
merce of the country was attacked or outrageously inter- 
fered with. All this was done under pretense of right, but 
the Americans felt that it was the right of the highway 
robber. 

Closely connected with these foreign complications were 
the Indian troubles in the West. Not since the end of the 

Revolution had there been a good assurance of 
hostflHies. Continued peace. The frontier was kept in 

constant dread of attack, and the only wonder 
is that men and women had the hardihood to move across 
the mountains into the Northwestern wilderness to suffer 




J -^ 



1 

J 












View of the Campus Martius, Mauiktta, Ohio, 1798. 

hardships and privations and to imperil their lives. In 1788 
a settlement was made at Marietta by people from New 
England, the first settlement of importance north of the 
Ohio. ■ The frontier, however, in the next few years ex- 
tended but little. Detroit and Mackinaw were held by the 
British. It was popularly believed that the Indians were 
incited to hostilities by the British officers. Though it is 
not true that the English Government was guilty of such 



ADMINISTRATION OP WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 249 

dastardly conduct, the red men took courage from the fact 
that the frontier forts were in the hands of their former 
allies, and they were continually led to look upon England 
as their steadfast friend. 

In 1790 an expedition sent out under General Harmar 
to punish the Indians of Ohio was utterly routed. The 

next year an army under General St. Clair met 
S^^'^ a similar fate. In 1794 Washington intrusted 

the command of an army to General Anthony 
Wayne, one of the men of the Revolution upon whom the 
President knew he could rely. " Mad Anthony," as he was 
sometimes called, gave no signs of harebrained rashness. 
He completely defeated the Indians in a battle on the Mau- 
mee, not very far from where the city of Toledo now stands. 
In the winter (1795) he formed the treaty of Greenville 
with the chiefs. This victory and the treaty opened up a 
large section of the i^orthwest for settlement; and emi- 
grants from the seacoast States were soon pouring over the 

mountains to build new homes in the new West. 

In seven years from the treaty of Greenville 
Ohio was knocking for admission into the Union — one of 
the most striking facts in our history. 

It will thus be seen that the year 1794 was a dreadful 
one. The Government was for a time openly disobeyed 

by the anti-excise men of Pennsylvania. The 
d^7^94.^ ^^^^ country was inwardly torn by faction, some 

persons upholding England, and others ready to 
accept the fraternal embrace of the French republic. Our 
flag was insulted on the seas and our seamen impressed. 
In the West the Indians were hostile, and were believed to 
be encouraged by the English, who still held possession of 
our frontier forts. 

We have seen how Washington overcame some of these 

troubles. To come to an understanding with England, he 

now sent John Jay as a special envoy to that country. 

The mission was a delicate one. Failure presumably meant 

18 



250 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

war ; and yet we were in no condition to fight. Jay suc- 
ceeded in making a good treaty, the best that could be 
obtained under the circumstances. It was not 
fair or equitable ; England did not give us any- 
thing like fair commercial privileges, nor did she promise 
to give up impressment ; but she did give up the frontier 
posts, and agreed to pay for the provisions she had seized. 
The United States promised to pay debts due British cred- 
itors, the collection of which had been hindered in the 
States. The treaty met with violent opposition when its 
terms were known in America. Washington was vehe- 
mently abused. Jay was hanged in effigy and denounced as 
a traitor. Hamilton was stoned when endeavoring to speak 
in behalf of the treaty. But, with the exception of a sin- 
gle clause, it was finally ratified by the Senate. When the 
House was called upon to pass the necessary apj)ropriation 
bills for carrying out the treaty, it called upon Washington 
for the papers relating to the matter. Washington refused 
to give them, on the ground that the House had no share in 
the treaty-making power. A great debate ensued, and at 
length the necessary appropriations were made. 

In the course of Washington's second term both Jeffer- 
son and Hamilton gave up their offices, and other changes 
took place in the Cabinet. At the end the 
Cabinet Cabinet was decidedly Federal, containing no 

changes • ^ ^ o 

longer members of different parties or repre- 
sentatives of different political tendencies. 

Three new States had by this time been admitted to the 
Union — Vermont, whose territory had been claimed by both 

New York and New Hampshire (1791) ; Ken- 
Important tucky, formed from what was the western part 

of Virginia (1792) ; and Tennessee (1796). A 
new amendment to the Constitution, the eleventh, was pro- 
posed in 1794, but it was not adopted till four years later. 
It resulted from the fact that the Supreme Court had de- 
clared that a private individual could sue a State. 



ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1707. 251 



The end of Washington's administration saw the coun- 
try free from many perils and on the high road to pros- 
^, perity. The new Government had weathered 

Government severe storms and had proved itself efficient, 
a success. Mucli of its success was due to the President's 

good judgment, sound, sense, and firmness.* His chief as- 
sistants also, especially Hamilton, deserve great credit. Spite 
of some uneasiness and waywardness among the people, they 
had shown to the world the great example of a nation or- 
ganizing a government in peace and giving it obedience. 

Washington refused to consider an election for a third 
term, and in September, 1796, issued a farewell address. 
This is a noble public document. It deserves 
The farewell careful reading to-day, and in many ways fits 
our times as it did the days of a hundred years 
ago. He pleaded earnestly 
for a true national spirit and 
for devotion to country. " Do 
not encourage party spirit, 
but use every effort to miti- 
gate it and assuage it. . . . 
Observe justice and faith to- 
ward all nations ; have neither 
passionate hatreds nor pas- 
sionate attachments to. any; 
and be independent practi- 
cally of all. In one word, be 
a nation, be American, and 
be true to yourselves." 

In the election that en- 

* One can hardly overestimate the importance of Washington's per- 
sonal character upon the life of his country. His wisdom and courage, 
his simple integrity, his tact and forbearance, his dignity and manli- 
ness, his purity and magnanimity of soul, exalted the nation. Without 
him it is difficult to see how the Revolution could have succeeded or 
the new Government been established. 




252 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

sued tlie Federalists supported John Adams and Thomas 
Pinckney, and the Eepublicans Thomas Jefferson and 
Aaron Burr. At that time the Constitution 
provided that each elector should vote for two 
persons. The one having the greatest number of votes 
should be President, " if such number be a majority of the 
whole number of electors," and the person having the next 
number Vice-President. Adams and Jefferson were well- 
known men, and each of them received more votes than 
either of the other two candidates. Adams was elected 
President and Jefferson Vice-President. And thus these 
two important positions in the Government were filled by 
persons of differing political beliefs ; they were, as Adams 
said, " in opposite boxes." The consequence was that 
Jefferson was bitterly opposed to most of the work of an 
administration in which he held the second position. 

References. 

Short accounts : Walker, The Making of the Nation, Chapters 
V and VI; Hart, The Formation of the Union, pp. 136-164. Longer 
accounts : Lodge, George Washington, Vokime II, pp. 47-316 ; Lodge, 
Alexander Hamilton, pp. 84-197; Morse, Thomas Jefferson, pp. 96- 
173; McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Volume 
I, pp. 535-604, Volume II, pp. 1-308. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN ADAMS— 1797-1801. 

Adams was a strong Federalist, given, at this time, to 
ideas somewhat lofty and aristocratic. He had wide experi- 
ence in affairs of state and had acquired merited 
*™^' distinction. He was not always tactful or wise- 

ly forbearant with those who did not agree with him, and 
was at times headstrong, always proud and sensitive ; but 
he was withal a sturdy patriot and an honest, able man. 

Jay's treaty did not put an end to foreign troubles. 
England, indeed, treated us with more consideration than 



(\ 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN ADAMS— 1797-1801. 253 



before ; but France seemed utterly regardless of how she 
abused a young nation whom she did not fear, and she was 

now wroth with the United States because the 
with^rrance. Government had come to terms with England 

without her august sanction. Monroe, whom 
Washington had sent as a minister to Paris, was recalled in 
1796, because he was too ready to receive French compli- 
ments and too lax about pressing upon the Government our 
demands for damages. The 
United States had long been 
suffering from the depreda- 
tions of the French upon our 
commerce. French war ships 
ruthlessly plundered Ameri- 
can merchantmen. They had 
not, on the whole, done so 
much damage as the English 
men-of-war, but that was not 
because the French naval offi- 
cers lacked the will and the 
desire, but was due to the fact 
that France was less powerful 
on the sea than England, and 
was less capable of injuring 
neutral commerce.* 

Charles C. Pinckney was sent to Paris as our minister to 
succeed Monroe ; but, instead of being courteously received, 
he was shamefully treated by the French Government. Our 
Government was given to understand that a minister would 
not be received until grievances were redressed, as if, for- 
sooth, America, not France, had been the aggressor. With 
the hope of bringing France to her senses, Adams appointed 
a commission of three persons, John Marshall, Elbridge 




J(i^^dmi<) 



* For some years after the treaty of 1794 England did not injure 
our commerce much. 



254 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Gerry, and Charles C. Pinckney. These men, instead of 
being treated with official courtesy, were waited on in Paris 
by secret messengers sent by Talleyrand, the French minis- 
ter, who made most extraordinary and insulting demands. 
One of their requests was for a bribe for the members of the 
French Directory. They said they wanted " money, a great 
deal of money." * The commissioners found their situation 
humiliating and unbearable. Marshall and Pinckney left 
Paris ; Gerry unwisely remained for a time, but accomplished 
nothing. 

The President sent to Congress the dispatches of the 
commission, April, 1798. The names of the French mes- 
sengers were not given, but the letters X, Y, Z 
The X Y Z supplied their places ; hence this whole diffi- 
culty is often called the X Y Z affair. Con- 
gress and the country at large were amazed and angry at 
the treatment accorded our envoys. Adams proclaimed 
that he would not send " another minister to France 
without assurance that he would be received as the rep- 
resentative of a great, free, powerful, and independent 
nation." 

Preparation was made for war. An army was organized, 
and Washington given the command. The navy was in- 
creased. Battles were actually fought at sea. 
War with ^ general war seemed inevitable. But the 

French Government was readier to intimidate 
and browbeat than to fight. Upon this great question of 
national honor the American people were no longer danger- 
ously divided into hostile factions. The French sympathies 
of the Republicans were not strong enough to make them 
accept insults willingly. 

* " Said he [M. X] : ' Gentlemen, you do not speak to the point : it is 
money ; it is expected you will offer money.' We said we had spoken 
to that point very explicitly ; we had given an answer. ' No,' said he, 
' you have not. What is your answer ? ' We replied : ' It is no ; no ; 
no ; not a sixpence.' " (Report of the commission.) 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN AI)AMS-1797-1801. 255 

When it was evident that America was ready to fight, 
Talleyrand, the wily minister, whose methods and words 
had been so exasperating, thought it best to 
ranee retracts. ^^^ different tactics. He suggested in a round- 
about way that France would be ready to receive a minister 
from the United States " with the respect due to the repre- 
sentative of a free, independent, and powerful nation." 
This declaration of penitence was not so open and straight- 
forward as might have been desired, but Adams wisely de- 
cided to make the best of it, and a commission was appoint- 
ed to proceed to France and settle the difficulties. This 
was successfully accomplished, and friendly relations were 
thus re-established. 

Almost from the beginning of Washington's administra- 
tion, parties had differed with regard to foreign policy. 
. The Federalists were eager to keep on good 

try to crush terms with England ; they were called " the 
opposition. British faction " by their opponents, and 

charged with truckling to the interest of that country. As 
we have seen, the Federalists were specially strong in New 
England, and the commercial interests of this section 
prompted them to wish to keep out of trouble with the 
country whose power on the sea seemed invincible. The 
Kepublicans, on the other hand, had fellow-feeling for 
France. Even the extravagances of the French Eevolution 
did not shock some of them. England was to them the 
abode of despotism, France the home of liberty. This sym- 
pathy was not unnatural, but, carried to an extreme by the 
more excitable element of the people, it had caused trouble. 
There were in the country many men who were worthless 
fellows, foreigners who rejoiced in railing at the Govern- 
ment, ridiculing Adams, and indulging in general abuse of 
those in authority. These men were in the Republican 
party ; but that party should not be judged by the follies of 
its most foolish members. The X Y Z disclosures for a 
time put an end to faction. All reasonable men were 



256 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

united in their readiness to defend America against insult. 
The Federalists felt that now was the time to act, that 
" democracy " was permanently discredited, that false and 
malicious criticism of Government should be made a crime. 
They decided to take advantage of their power to crush 
factious opposition. With this end in view three acts were 
passed (1798) : 1. The Naturalization Act 
Jedition kws! lengthened the time of residence required be- 
fore a foreigner could become a citizen. 2. 
The Alien Act empowered the President to exclude dan- 
gerous foreigners from the country. 3. The Sedition Act 
made it a crime to print or publish " any false, scandalous, 
and malicious writings against the Government of the 
United States, or either house of the Congress, or the Presi- 
dent, with intent to defame them or to bring them into 
disrepute." The last two laws were dangerous in their na- 
ture. The Sedition Act might well be so enforced as to 
make all criticism of governmental action a crime. 

These laws were vigorously denounced by the Repub- 
licans in Congress as tyrannical and unconstitutional, as 
laws that "would have disgraced the age of 
Virginia and Gothic barbarity." When they had been 
resoktions. passed, the party leaders decided that a formal 
protest must be made. The mode chosen was 
unfortunate. The Legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky, 
each passed a series of resolutions condemning the laws as 
unconstitutional and void, and declaring the right of the 
States to interpose and to maintain their rights. These 
resolutions came from distinguished authors. Madison 
drew up the Virginia resolutions, and, though Jefferson's 
name was for a time hidden, he was the real author of those 
of Kentucky. As to how we are to read these instruments 
scholars may yet differ. Madison in later years indignantly 
denied that he had meant to advocate the doctrine that 
a single State could declare void an act of the National 
Government and prevent its enforcement within the limits 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN ADAMS— 1797-1801. 257 

of such State ; but as a matter of fact, the doctrine of 
" nullification " and the related doctrine of secession did in 
course of time draw encouragement and sustenance from 
these resolutions.* 

AVhen the war cloud blew over, the Federalists were 
left in an unenviable plight. The expenses of the Govern- 
ment had been materially increased, a direct tax 
?h^e^Sraiists. ^^^ ^^^^ levied, and acts unnecessarily harsh 
had been placed on the statute books. More 
over, the party itself was divided. Many were opposed to 
Adams on personal grounds ; they believed that his readi- 
ness to treat with France was disloyalty to the party. 
Adams found it necessary to reorganize his Cabinet, because 
some of its members looked to Hamilton as their leader 
and guide. This factional bitterness was sure to tell 
against the Federalists in the election. In addition to all 
this was the fact that the people were really at heart demo- 
cratic, and the mild, hopeful principles of Jefferson were 
more to their liking than the sterner, repressive teachings 
of the party whose task it had been to put the Government 
in working order, f 

* The Virginia resolutions declared that "this Assembly . . . 
views the powers of the Federal Government as resulting from the 
compact to which the States are parties, . . . and that in case of a 
deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not 
granted by the said compact, the States . . . have the right and are 
in duty bound to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil and 
for maintaining within their limits the authorities, rights, and liberties 
appertaining to them." The first series of Kentucky resolutions de- 
clared that " each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of 
infractions as of the mode and measure of redress"; while the second 
series said " that a nullification by those sovereignties [the States], of 
all unauthorized acts ... is the rightful remedy." It is now well de- 
cided that, although the Central Government has only the authority 
given by the Constitution, it can judge of the extent of the authority so 
given. The Supreme Court is final judge. 

t In the autumn of 1800 Congress assembled for the first time at 
Washington. It was then a rude town of about five hundred people 



258 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

The Republican candidates were the same as in 1796, 
Jefferson and Burr. The Federalists put forward Adams 
and Charles C. Pinckney. The Republicans 
were successful. The result, however, was not 
what they had expected. Both of their candidates had re- 
ceived the same number of votes, and thus the election was 
thrown into the House of Representatives. The Federalists 
were in the majority there. To many of these men Jeffer- 
son seemed not only the chief enemy of their party, but a 
dangerous man ; they therefore voted for Burr. ^According 
to the Constitution the vote was by States. Out of sixteen 
States, eight voted for Jefferson, six for Burr, and two were 
evenly divided. The balloting continued several days, until 
it was feared that no election would take place, and that 
some extra constitutional device must be resorted to ; but, 
fortunately, patriotism and sense finally overcame partisan- 
ship, and Jefferson was elected (February 17, 1801). Burr 
was a man utterly without principle and wholly selfish. 
He was practiced in the worst arts -of political management. 
His election as Vice-President was bad enough ; had the 
Federalists succeeded in making him President, it would 
have been the crowning shame of partisanship. In order 
to avoid in the future such trouble as this. Congress pro- 
posed the twelfth amendment to the Constitution, and it 
was adopted by the States (1804). It provided that the 
electors should cast a ballot for President, and a separate 
ballot for Vice-President. 

By the end of Adams's administration parties were 
formed and organized as they were to remain without 
much change for some years. Hamilton's financial meas- 
ures had attracted into the Federal party the commercial 

With few exceptions the houses were huts. The inhabitants were negroes, 
or idlers who expected to get rich at once from the sale of their lands. 
It was a gloomy, unpromising place. " We want nothing here," said 
Gouverneur Morris, " but houses, cellars, kitchens, well informed men, 
amiable women, and other trifles of this kind to make our city perfect." 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN ADAMS— 1797-1801. 259 

classes of the North. All the elements of society whose 
chief desire was stability and strength found their way into 
the party that was seeking to give force and character to 
the l^ational Government. The task of the Federal party 
had been to establish the Government and to bring about 
order and system. When this was accomplished its useful- 
ness was in large measure over, and it gave way to the Ee- 
publican party. 

References. 

Short accounts: Hart, The Formation of the Union, pp. 164-175 ; 
Walker, The Making of the Nation, pp. 137-168 ; Morse, Thomas 
Jefferson, Chapter XII ; Schouler, Thomas Jefferson, pp. 177-198 ; 
Magruder, John Marshall, Chapter VII (for the French mission) ; 
Morse, John Adams, pp. 265-311 ; Lodge, Alexander Hamilton, pp. 
194-236. Longer accounts: Schouler, History, Volume I, pp. 341- 
500 ; McMaster, History, Volume II, pp. 308-533. For the presi- 
dential election, see Stanwood, History of the Presidency, Chapter V. 




Eeception of Washington at Trenton, N. J., April 21, 1789, 

ON HIS Way to his Inauguration. 

From the Columbian Magazine of May, 1789. 



CHAPTER XIL 

The Supremacy of the Republicans— Foreign Complications- 
War— 1801-1817. 



ADMINISTRATION OF THOMAS JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 

The new President was a man of strong parts, with a 
great faculty of winning men and of filling them with his 
own ideas and hopes. When positive action 
dootrinT'^ was necessary he was at times weak, and was 

given to idealizing when the actual should 
have occupied his attention. But his ideals were on the 
whole noble and wise, for he seemed to foresee the coming 
life of his country. He was bitterly opposed to anything 

that might fasten upon this 
young land the burdens under 
which the people of Europe 
suffered. America was for 
man; and if man were to 
make the most of himself, he 
must not be oppressed by a 
smothering upper crust of no- 
bility, by heavy taxes that con- 
sumed his substance, by big ar- 
mies and navies, by a huge and 
expensive government. War, 
too, was to be avoided. " Peace 
is our passion," he declared. 
The essence of Jeffersonism is 
contained in the thought that 
America means opportunity. 




ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 261 




In carrying out the policy of his administration Jeffer- 
son was ably assisted by Madison, his Secretary of State, 
and by Albert Gallatin, his 
Secretary of the Treasury. 
Up to this time the Republi- 
can party had been opposed 
to an extension of the powers 
of the A^ational Government. 
But now that they were in 
power the Constitution was 
broadly construed, and much 
was done to increase the 
strength of the nation and to 
bind its parts together. 

Since the time of the Rev- 
olution the Mississippi ques- 
tion had been of great im- 
portance. That great river, 
with its tributaries, formed 

highways to the sea for the people west of the 
The Mississippi mountains. To float their heavy flatboats 

question. , -^ 

down to New Orleans was an easier task than 
to carry burdens by the long route overland to the cities of 
the Atlantic. It seems strange, but it is an important fact 
in Western and national history, that until the days of 
canals and railroads the Western people faced southward 
rather than eastward.* 

The West was growing. Already (1803) there were three 
States beyond the mountains, Ohio having been just ad- 
mitted. To the man who could imagine a tithe of the fu- 
ture growth of the country, the possession of the mouth of 
the Mississippi seemed a simple necessity. " There is one 
spot," said Jefferson, " the possessor of which is our natural 



^/(A7e/yT' ya^^CaZ^^ 



* A very clear account of the Mississippi question is to be found in 
How to Study and Teach History, by B. A. Hinsdale, chap. xx. 



262 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

and habitual enemy." That spot was New Orleans, and Jef- 
ferson fully realized that sooner or later we must possess it. 
It will be remembered that by the treaty of 1783 Spain 
obtained possession of the Floridas, which had been held by 
England for twenty years. She also owned 
LoXTana*^'''' the land west of the Mississippi, including the 
land at the mouth of that river.* The United 
States held nothing at that place south of the thirty-first 
parallel. Now in 1800, by a secret treaty, Spain ceded 
Louisiana to France. Just what Louisiana was is uncer- 
tain, but it certainly included New Orleans and a vast terri- 
tory to the west. Not for some time was this secret trans- 
fer discovered. When it was found out, it was time to 
act. Spain, in this point of advantage, was bad enough; 
but France would never do ; she was too enterprising and 
strong. To make matters worse, the Spanish authorities at 
New Orleans deprived the Americans of the right they had 
had of depositing their goods there. Something had to be 
done, or the West would not keep the peace. 

Jefferson took steps to purchase New Orleans and West 
Florida. Monroe was appointed special envoy for the pur- 
pose. Before he reached Paris Talleyrand had 
"^cUsr^^*^* suggested to Livingston, the resident minister, 
the possibility of a great bargain, and after 
Monroe's arrival a treaty was signed whereby France sold 
Louisiana to the United States for about $15,000,000 (April, 
1803). The boundaries, as we have already said, were in- 

* Spain insisted for many years after 1783 that she owned the terri- 
tory as far north as the northern boundary of the old province of West 
Florida, a line through the mouth of the Yazoo. In 1795 it was agreed 
that the thirty-first parallel should be the southern limit of the United 
States between the Mississippi and the Appalachicola. Spain at the 
same time granted to the Americans the right to deposit goods at New 
Orleans and to export them without paying duty. As the West grew in 
population the desire increased to hold the mouths of the streams that 
rose in American territory and flowed southward into the Gulf. 



264 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

definite. Napoleon remarked, with his customary cunning, 
that if an obscurity did not exist about the boundary it 
would be well to make one. The purchase certainly in- 
cluded New Orleans, and so much of the territory west of 
the Mississippi as lay nortli of the old Spanish possessions, 
south of the English possessions, and east of the Eocky 
Mountains ; in other words, it was the western half of the 
Mississippi Valley. The United States claimed West 
Florida also, but probably wrongfully. It was taken later, 
however, under claim of title (1810-'12).* 

There were some doubts in Jefferson's mind as to the 
constitutionality of purchasing and annexing the territory. 
Constitution- ^^^ ^'^ ^^ ^^^ Certainly contrary to the doctrine 
ality of of strict construction of the Constitution which 

annexation. Jefferson had advocated when in opposition. 
The great majority of the Republican party, however, did 
not think the act illegal. The Federalists opposed it on 
the ground that the treaty provided for the admission of 
new States from the territory so annexed. Both parties, 
therefore, agreed that the United States as a nation could 
acquire territory.! 

Thus the territory of the United States was more than 
doubled. Louisiana contained over 800,000 square miles. 

itsm nin ^^ ^^^ ^'^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^'^^^ Mississippi VaHey. 
s meanings. ^^^ j^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ Continent, bound together by 

rivers into a single geographic whole, feU to the new re- 
public. Nothing else could be done so likely to insure per- 

* We took France's title—Louisiana with the extent that it "has 
in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it, and 
such as it should be after the treaties subsequently entered into be- 
tween Spain and other States." On the basis of these words we laid 
claim to Florida as far east as the Perdido, on the ground that Louisi- 
ana in the hands of France had extended thus far. This, it must be 
said, was an afterthought on Livingston's part, and in the light of all 
the evidence must be considered an unjust claim. 

f The right to annex territory was afterward upheld by the Supreme 
Court. Am. Ins. Co. v. Canter, 1 Peters. 511. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 265 

petual union. Geography itself taught the inevitable lesson. 
Moreover, the party of strict construction had done the act, 
and thus had committed itself to a broad interpretation of 
the Constitution and to a liberal conception of the nation's 
greatness and destiny. 

In the meantime internal politics had not been quiet. 
Just before Adams left office the Federalists had passed an 

act creating a number of new judgeships and 
isof ?eped!d!^ extending the judicial system. The new places 

thus provided were all filled with Federalists. 
It was reported that Adams on the last day of his adminis- 
tration was busy up to midnight filling fat offices with his 
own party followers. The Republicans, upon getting into 
power, repealed the act which created the new judicial 
offices, and the judges were thus deprived of their positions. 
It was claimed by the Federalists that this violated the 
Constitution, which provided that judges were to hold office 
during good behavior. There was great ill feeling on both 
sides. Out of this same matter arose an interesting law suit. 

A man named Marbury had been appointed to 
Marbury vs. ^^ office by Adams, but his commission had not 

been delivered. He asked the Supreme Court 
for an order directing Madison, Jefferson's Secretary of 
State, to give him the commission. This the Court refused 
to do on the ground that the writ he asked for could not be 
issued in a suit begun in the Supreme Court, because the 
Constitution did not give the Court such power. This was 
a very important case, because it declared void a part of 
the judiciary act of 1789, and it was the first clear assertion 
by the Supreme Court that it could declare void an act of 
Congress. 

The judges of the United States were at this time all 
Federalists. It irritated the Republicans to think that 
their opponents, although beaten at the polls, had, as it 
were, retired into the judicial department, where they 
might interpret the Constitution as they chose. Judge 
19 



266 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Pickering, a district judge in New Hampshire, was im- 
peached and removed from office. The offense charged was 
drunkenness and unseemly conduct on the 
attacked^^*^^ bench. He seems to have been insane, and in- 
capable of performing his duties. More serious 
attacks were made on the courts. Some of the men on the 
bench were disagreeable to the Eepublicans because of 

their narrow partisanship. One 
of these. Judge Chase, was im- 
peached by the House, but the 
Senate did not convict him 
(1805). No doubt some of 
Chase's utterances were annoy- 
ing and out of taste, but the 
Federalists rightly considered 
this impeachment as a dangerous 
interference with the independ- 
ence of the judiciary. 

After the failure of the Chase 
impeachment the Court was 
never again directly attacked 
by the political branches of the 
Government. Jefferson declared, 
somewhat mournfully, that im- 
peachment was but a " scarecrow." For many years the 
Supreme Court remained a Federalist stronghold. John 
Marshall * was the greatest judge in our history, and this 
was not simply because he was a great lawyer — other men 

* Marshall was chief justice from 1801 to 1835. Story was appoint- 
ed in 1811. Mr. Bryce thus speaks of Marshall : " It is scarcely an ex- 
aggeration to call him, as an eminent American jurist has done, a 
second maker of the Constitution. . . . Marshall was, of course, only 
one among seven judges, but his majestic intellect and the elevation 
of his character gave him such an ascendancy that he found himself 
only once in a minority on a constitutional question." (The American 
Commonwealth, vol. i, p. 374, first American edition.) 




ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 26Y 

have equaled him in that respect — but because he was 

a statesman of high order, and, with marvelous ability and 

insight, comprehended and interpreted the 

The Supreme fundamental law of the state in accord with 

IjOTirti 

its deepest needs and purposes. Under his 
influence and guidance the Court was raised to a position 
of great dignity and power. Judge Story was likewise a 
great jurist, and did much to establish the dignity of this 
branch of our Government. The respect which the people 
came to feel for the Court and their readiness to abide by 
its decisions was one of the most encouraging and whole- 
some features of our national life. 

The Barbary States of JSTorth Africa were in these days 
nests of pirates. The European powers were accustomed 

to pay them tribute in order that their mer- 

Barbaiywar. ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^.^j^^ ^^^ ^^ molested. The 

American Government had entered upon the same practice. 
Cargoes of presents were sent now and again to appease the 
greed of these scourges of the ocean. Their demands be- 
came so exorbitant that our Government at last found it 
better to fight than gently submit to insult and robbery. 
In 1801 a small fleet was sent to the Mediterranean, which 
in 1802 was followed by an imposing squadron. The Amer- 
ican navy won the honor of teaching these robber nations 
that they must behave themselves, and that blackmailing 
must cease. 

As the next election approached it seemed quite plain 
that the Eepublicans had gained a secure hold on the coun- 
Th New *^y* "^^^ Federalists, now confined almost en- 

England tirely to New England, were greatly disheart- 

conspiracy. ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ prospect. Many seemed to believe 
that the country was on the brink of destruction because 
of the misdeeds of the party in power. They believed that 
democracy would soon cause the overthrow of all respect- 
able government. Some of the more hot-headed among 
them actually discussed in secret the advisability of dissolv- 



268 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

ing the Union. Aaron Burr, whose foul ambition could 
ever be relied on, was to be used as a tool by these conspira- 
tors, and one of the first steps was to try to secure his elec- 
tion as governor of New York. Hamilton, who was bitterly 
opposed to the whole treasonable scheme, used all his influ- 
ence against it, and it was due to his opposition, in no small 
measure, that the intrigue was a failure and Burr was de- 
feated. Burr thereupon challenged Hamilton 
S*"""'' to a duel and killed him (1804). The treason- 
able conspiracy, for the time at least, died out. 
A few years later there seems to have been a renewal of 
these whispered plots among some of the more bitter Feder- 
alist partisans. The great majority of the New England 
people were never guilty of the crime or folly of planning 
the destruction of the Union. 

Hamilton's death startled and shocked the Northern 
people, and had its effect in doing away with the brutal 
practice of settling personal disputes upon 
ami on. "the field of honor." Burr was indicted for 

murder and fled the State, followed by the execration of 
the public. This awful tragedy is the most dramatic epi- 
sode in the early history of our Union. Hamilton had in 
reality offered up his life for his country. He had served 
her well, and perhaps this was not an inappropriate close of 
a great career. With a wonderful capacity for government 
and the tasks of civil administration, with a strong grasp of 
political principles and a profound knowledge of public 
law, gifted with financial skill of a high order, and han- 
dling details with as much ease as he comprehended systems, 
he stands forth as one of the greatest constructive states- 
men of his generation. 
Election of j^^ ^^^ election of 1804 the Eepublicans 

supported Jefferson for President and George 
Clinton for Vice-President, while the Federalists voted for 
Charles C. Pinckney and Eufus King. The result of the 
contest was an overwhelming victory for the Eepublicans. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 269 

The Federalists cast but fourteen electoral votes, carrying 
only Connecticut and Delaware, and getting two out of the 
nine votes of Maryland. 

Disappointed in his ambitions in the East, Burr now en- 
tered upon a desperate undertaking in the West (1805-'6). 
' Exactly what his plans were is somewhat uncer- 
The Burr ^^j^ Perhaps he hardly knew himself what he 

hoped to do. Indeed, at different times and to 
different persons his plans assumed different aspects. He 
was probably intent upon attacking the Spaniards in Mexico, 
and may have also hoped for power and grandeur as the 
head of a Western empire. Possibly the story is not ill told 
in a letter written at the time by one who was in the secret : 
"Kentucky, Tennessee, the State of Ohio, the four Territories 
on the Mississippi and Ohio, with part of Georgia and Caro- 
lina, are to be bribed with the plunder of the Spanish coun- 
tries west of us to separate from the Union." It was a wild 
and foolish plan, such as could be begotten only in the brain 
of a man who was so devoid of principle and patriotism him- 
self that he could not appreciate such qualities in others. 
He interested many persons in his conspiracy, chief among 
whom was General Wilkinson, Governor of the Louisiana 
Territory. Burr was at length arrested and tried for treason 
(1807) ; but he was not convicted, because it could not be 
proved * that he had actually levied war upon the United 
States. 

The great West, which had been purchased in 1803, was 
an unknown wilderness. Some French explorers years 

before had crossed the plains, but little or 
TrPikr^^^^^ nothing was now known about the country. 

In the summer of 1805 Lieutenant Pike made a 
journey of exploration up the Mississippi River. He went as 
far north as Leech Lake, and notified British and Indian 

* The Constitution declares that " treason against the United States 
shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their 
enemies, giving them aid and comfort." (Constitution, art. iii, sec. 3.) 



270 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

occupants of the territory that they were under American 
rule. The next year he went from St. Louis to the West. 
He penetrated even into the mountains of Colorado and 
New Mexico, and gave his name to Pike's Peak as a per- 
manent monument of his expedition. In 1803 Jefferson, 
eager to ascertain the character of the great dominion he 

had purchased, sent out Meriwether Lewis and 
Cla^r''^''^ William Clark to make explorations in the far 

West.* They made their way to the head 
waters of the Missouri, crossed the great divide, and reached 
the mouth of the Columbia River, and there they saw " the 



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waves like small mountains rolling out in the ocean." They 

had reached the goal of American ambition. The journey 

to the coast and return required more than two years. 

These Western expeditions were evidences of American 

enterprise, but they could bring very little immediate result. 

American skill and independent thought were 
The steamboat. , . . , . , , i i 

beginning, however, to show themselves m 

other fields than exploration. On August 17, 1807, Eobert 

Fulton put his steamboat, the Clermont, to the test. Before 

* Even before the acquisition of Louisiana Jefferson had taken a 
practical interest in the exploration of the West. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 271 

a crowd of onlookers the little craft slowly made its way at 

the rate of four miles an hour against the current of the 

Hudson River. This is an important date in our history. 

In a few years steamboats plied up and down the Western 

rivers. It was no longer necessary to float down to New 

Orleans and plod wearily back by land, or to pole the heavy 

flatboat back hundreds of miles against a stubborn current. 

The whole West with its network of rivers could now be 

traversed. Emigrants from the East thus found their way 

to new homes ; the great resources of the continent were 

opened. In 1811 a steamboat was built at Pittsburg, and 

descended to New Orleans. In 1818 the Walk-in-the- 

Water made a voyage from Buffalo to Detroit.* For the 

first time the American people were given means to conquer 

the continent. 

During Jefferson's second administration the United 

States was beset with many troubles in its relations with 

England and France. These two nations, it 

Englaaidand ^[\i be remembered, had bes^un to fierht in 
France at war, ^ ° 

1793, and the contest was still waging. There 

had been a troubled peace for about a year after the treaty 
of Amiens (1802), but now the war was being carried on 
with renewed vehemence. The English felt that their 
safety and independence as a nation were at stake. They 
were desperately in earnest. Napoleon's victorious career 
on the Continent had given rise to fears that he would es- 
tablish a European empire and crush all that were not sub- 
missive to his will. He hated with a profound hatred the 
little island that stood doggedly in the way of his lawless 
ambitions. Neither nation was in a mood to consider the 
rights of a neutral state. Each sought to make the most 
out of America, the young republic, whose power was not 



* An interesting account of the steamboat will be found in McMas- 
ter, History, vol. iv, pp. 397-407 ; or Adams, History, vol. iv, p. 135, 
and vol. ix, pp. 167-172. 



272 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

dreaded, and who seemed by her carrying trade to be the 
only nation profiting by the war. 

In 1805 England decided that, contrary to her previous 

policy, goods from the French colonies transported in 

American ships cbuld be seized, even though 

Aggressions ° 

upon American they had been landed in the United States and 
commerce. reshipped.* This was a serious blow to Amer- 

ican commerce, which had been thriving in this very trade. 
In the same year the battle of Trafalgar was won by Nel- 
son; England was henceforth mistress of the seas. She 
used her power arrogantly. British men-of-war were actu- 
ally stationed just outside New York harbor to intercept 
American merchant vessels, search them, and impress their 
seamen. The domineering spirit of the British command- 
ers increased the annoyance and mortification arising from 
such treatment. Hundreds of sailors were 
pressmen . ^^^^^ ^^ ^ single year taken from American 
vessels and forced to fight the battles of England. The 
ground of seizure was that these men were Englishmen 
born, and England's assertion was " Once an Englishman, 
always an Englishman." It must be noticed that that coun- 
try was not unique in holding that a man could not give up 
allegiance to his native land and become the citizen of an- 
other. Other nations held the same doctrine. But in prac- 
tice England enforced her claims arrogantly, seized native- 
born Americans as well as Englishmen, and disdainfully 
treated American commerce as if the flag at the masthead 
of a vessel offered no security from insult and annoyance. 
It was plain enough that, much as the Jeffersonians loved 
peace, the United States must soon fight in defense of its 
self-respect. 

The crowning act of insolence occurred in 1807. The 
American frigate Chesapeake was overtaken not far from 

* This subject is very clearly treated in Channing, The United 
States of America, pp. 174-180. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 273 

Hampton Eoads by the British frigate Leopard, and the 
British commander demanded the surrender of several sea- 
men serving on the Chesapeake, whom he 

The Chesapeake claimed to be deserters from the British service, 
affair. 

When this demand was not acceded to, the 

Leopard, at the distance of a hundred and fifty or two hun- 
dred feet, poured her whole broadside into the American 
vessel. The Chesapeake was unprepared for action. She 
received three broadsides without being able to answer in 
kind, and then struck her flag and surrendered. Three 
men were killed and eighteen wounded. The alleged 
deserters were taken aboard the Leopard. Three of them 
were Americans, one of the three being a negro. Perhaps 
the most exasperating thing about this whole affair was the 
presumption shown in attacking a frigate that was, if given 
a fighting chance, a fair match for the Leopard. But the 
English did not stoop to consider that an American frigate 
could fight. Within a few years they learned their mistake. 
This outrage nearly brought on war at once, and it probably 
would have been as well if that had been the result, for it 
was high time that either France or England came to see 
that the United States could defend herself. And yet one 
must strongly sympathize with Jefferson and his advisers, 
who loathed the barbarity of war, and believed that self- 
interest and common sense should win all nations to peace. 
Unfortunately, the times were not suited for such humane 
ideas. Xearly the whole civilized world was rent with 
strife. 

Through these years France injured American com- 
merce and lost no opportunity to gain by plunder. Eng- 
j, ,. , , land, indeed, made some pretense of having 
and French legal justification for her conduct ; but Na- 
decrees. poleon did not seem to need any excuse for 

ordering the seizure and condemnation of vessels. Jeffer- 
son, in a moment of exasperation, said that England had 
become a den of pirates and France a den of thieves. Na- 



274 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

poleon and the English Government vied with each other 
in issuing proclamations that would prevent the free course 
of neutral trade (1806-'7). England issued two Orders in 
Council which went to the extent of declaring a blockade of 
nearly the whole coast of Europe. This was to a great ex- 
tent a mere " paper blockade " — an announcement without 
sufficient force to make it effective. The French Emperor 
issued a decree declaring that the British Islands were in a 
state of blockade, and later another stating that any ship 
which submitted to search by an English ship was a lawful 
prize for the cruisers of France. These were known as the 
Berlin and the Milan decrees. So here was the dilemma for 
American shipping — either to refuse to be searched and in 
consequence to be blown out of the water by an English 
frigate, or submit to the indignity of search and become 
lawful prize for a French man-of-war, or be seized in any 
Continental harbor subject to French power. The situa- 
tion was not agreeable. 

Efforts were made to bring England to terms by some 
means short of war. December, 1806, Monroe and William 
Pinkney, in London, negotiated a treaty, but 
The Monroe Jefferson refused to accept it as satisfactory, 
rea y. ^^ ought either to have accepted it or to have 

prepared seriously for war. He did neither. At the end 
of 1807 Congress, on his recommendation, passed an em- 
bargo act, closing all the American harbors to 
The embargo, commerce. This act was in force for over a 
year. It solved none of the difficulties under which the 
country was suffering. The vessels lay idle at the wharves, 
men were thrown out of work, foreign trade was abruptly 
stopped, and home trade was checked. The products of 
the Southern plantations could not be trans- 
ported. The interests of all sections of the 
country were injured. Perhaps New England was hurt 
least of all, because the inventive Yankee now turned his 
attention to manufacturing, and made money, because for- 



ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. ^75 

eign goods could not be imported. The Northern people 
were, however, bitterly incensed against the policy which 
seemed, under the guise of protection, to be destroying 
their commerce. England was doubtless somewhat in- 
jured, but not enough to induce her to revoke her orders, 
Napoleon confiscated American vessels in the ports of 
Europe, claiming that he was in all kindness 
?°^" enforcinfif the embargo. Thus the plan broke 

intercourse. o o x 

down. The embargo act was repealed in the 
spring of 1809, and the non-intercourse act passed, making 
all commerce with Great Britain, France, and their depend- 
encies illegal, but restoring trade with the rest of the world. 
In 1808 the Federalists once more presented Charles 0. 
Pinckney and Rufus King as their candidates. The party 
was stronger than four years before, carrying 
this time all of New England except Vermont, 
and winning some votes at the South ; but the Republicans 
were easy victors. James Madison and George Clinton 
were elected by a large majority. 

References. 

Short accounts: Hart, Formation of the Union, Chapter IX; 
Walker, The Making of the Nation, Chapters IX and X ; Channing, 
The United States of America, Chapter VI; Morse, Thomas Jef- 
ferson, pp. 209-330; Schouler, Thomas Jefferson, pp. 198-334; 
Stevens, Albert Gallatin, pp. 176-289; Stanwood, History of the 
Presidency, Chapters VI and VII. Longer accounts : Schouler, 
History, Volume II, Chapters V-VII; McMaster, History, Volume 
11, Chapter XIII, Volume III, Chapters XIV-XX; Henry Adams, 
History, Volumes I-IV; Channing, The Jeffersonian System. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON— 1809-1817. 

When Madison became President he had already had 
wide political experience. He had been a member of the 
Congress of the Confederation and a member of the Federal 
convention that formed the Constitution (1787), where his 



2Y6 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 




a.)iiJiJ Aic^c/LJokx 



work was so great that he justly won the title of " Father 
of the Constitution." During Washington's administration 
he was a leader of the opposition 
party. He was Jefferson's Secretary 
of State through both terms. He 
was a man of much political wisdom 
and of honest, sincere devotion to 
his country ; but, like Jefferson, he 
was at times not so vigorous an ad- 
ministrator as seemed to be needed 
in these trying days. He retained 
some of the members of Jefferson's 
Cabinet, the ablest of whom was 
Albert Gallatin, one of the greatest 
Secretaries of the Treasury in our 
history. In 1811 James Monroe became Secretary of State. 
Madison's administration began brilliantly. An agree- 
ment was reached with the English minister, Erskine, resi- 
dent at AVashington, that the Orders in Coun- 
cil should be withdrawn. The country was 
elated, but doomed to a speedy disappointment. 
The English Government repudiated the action of its min- 
ister, and Madison was even accused of having taken advan- 
tage of Erskine's youth and inexperience to cajole him into 
an unauthorized agreement. Erskine was recalled. Jack- 
son, his successor, was so impertinent in his insinuations of 
bad faith on Madison's part that he was informed that our 
Government would receive no communication from him ; and 
so the situation was worse than it had been for some years. 
Matters were now indeed hurrying to a catastrophe. 
France and England were so utterly brutal in their attacks 
upon American commerce that they both de- 
Napoleon's served a whipping ; but as it was impossible to 

both, 



The Erskine 
agreement. 



fiojht 



one 



of 



them should have been 



chosen for an ally without more delay. In 1810 (March 
23) Napoleon issued what is known as his Rambouillet de- 



ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. $^77 

cree, ordering the seizure of all American vessels that, 
since the non-intercourse policy was adopted, had entered 
the ports of France or of any other country occupied by 
the French. As a result, scores of vessels worth many thou- 
sands of dollars were confiscated, and the money was poured 
into Napoleon's treasury. It was a shameful piece of thiev- 
ing, hut by no means the only one of which Napoleon was 
guilty. However objectionable war might be, American 
property might better be used in defense of x^merican 
rights than stolen by the Emperor of the French to help 
on his career of glory and carnage. 

Soon after the issue of this infamous decree the Ameri- 
can Congress passed a bill known as the Macon Bill No. 2 
^^ . . (May 1, 1810). This provided that non-inter- 
Napoleon an course should be abandoned, but that if either 
opportunity, Qf |;i^g offending nations should " so revoke or 
modify her edicts as that they shall cease to violate the 
neutral commerce of the United States," then intercourse 
with the other nation should be prohibited. Napoleon, 
cunning and dishonest, was ready to take the advantage 
thus offered him. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs 
wrote to the American minister in Paris : " His Majesty 
loves the Americans. Their property and their commerce 
are within the scope of his policy." This surprising an- 
nouncement was coupled with the statement that after No- 
vember first the obnoxious decrees should not be enforced, 
but that, on the other hand, England must do likewise and 
renounce her "new principle of blockade," or that the 
United States should "cause their rights to be respected 
by the English." * So Napoleon, by taking advantage of 

* The important clause in the letter is as follows : " I am author- 
ized to declare to you that the decrees of Berlin and Milan are revoked, 
and that after November 1st they will cease to have effect, on the under- 
standing that, in consequence of this declaration, . . . the United States 
. . . shall cause their rights to be respected by the English." It is 
plain that by accepting such a revocation Madison in a way bound the 



2Y8 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

the Macon Bill No. 2, by a little distortion of its language 

entered, as it were, into a contract with the United States. 

He is said to have remarked a few days later, 

He takes u j^ jg evident that we commit ourselves to noth- 

advantage of it. . „ , , , « « , i , • -, , 

mg. As a matter of fact, he contmued to 
confiscate the American cargoes and vessels as before. Late 
in 1810, however, Madison accepted this statement of the 
French Government, and on March 2, 1811, Congress passed 
an act re-establishing non-intercourse with Great Britain. 

During 1811 the sky did not brighten much. The 
United States was still spitefully ill-used by the combatants 
and still restlessly held its peace. England 
i^^® ^1*^^*^°^ now offered to make reparation for the Chesa- 
peake outrage, and the offer was accepted ; but 
this did not seem to heal many wounds or bring much con- 
solation. About the same time a similar affair occurred 
between the English man-of-war Little Belt and the Ameri- 
can frigate President, but this time the English man-of-war 
was shattered and crippled. This action caused a good 
deal of excitement and some elation in America. England 
had not yet given up her claim of right to search American 
vessels and impress seamen for her service. Doubtless some 
of these men were deserters from British vessels, and Eng- 
land needed every man in the great death struggle with 
France, but the method of using her power was exasperat- 
ing in the extreme. 

For some time the Indians on the Western frontier had 
been in a restless and dangerous mood. Tecumthe — or 
Tecumseh, as he is generally called — a Shawnee chief of 
great ability, had entered upon the task of organizing the 
red men into a vast confederacy to resist the encroach- 
ments of the whites. The truth seems to be that, although 
the English did not encourage hostilities, they had made 

United States to compel England to cease her violations of our com- 
merce. 



ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 279 

preparations to use the Indians in case of war. With Te^ 
cumseh, in his effort to arouse the braves, was his brother 
the " Prophet," who, not so wise or cautious aa 
Tippecanoe ° Tecumseh, brought on a war with the Ameri- 
November, cans in the autumn of 1811. The white troops 

^^^ ' were commanded by General William Henry 

Harrison, and they defeated the Indians in the battle of 
Tippecanoe, fought (November 7th) near where the creek 
of that name falls into the Wabash, in the western part of 
the State of Indiana. Tecumseh joined the English army 
the next year. 

At this time a new element showed itself in the Kepub- 
lican party. Younger men from the South and West came 
to positions of prominence in Congress. Henry 
The Young Clay, of Kentucky, a young man barely thirty- 
four years of age, a representative of the new 
West, was chosen Speaker of the House. He was eloquent, 
fervid, and full of zeal for American dignity and honor. 
He represented a new generation in politics, a generation 
which had arisen since the Revolution, and had none of the 
old feeling of colonialism or of inferiority to foreign powers, 
a generation of men that was intensely American. He 
represented, too, the ambitious, impetuous West, where it 
was customary to resent insult on the moment and to fight 
lustily on occasion. So Henry Clay and those who thought 
with him could not be expected to dally with fruitless 
negotiations. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, now 
entered Congress for the first time. He was not yet thirty 
years old. He was of marked ability, and had a keen, logi- 
cal mind. Though not so eloquent as Clay, he was a forci- 
ble, effective speaker. Other men somewhat less noted, but 
of spirit and ability, began to take an active part in the 
national councils.* This young and vigorous element of 

* Daniel Webster entered Congress in 1813. Clay, with his usual 
sagacity, put Webster at once on the Foreign Affairs Committee. From 



280 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

the party prepared for war. Clay organized the committees 
of the House on an aggressive basis, giving to Calhoun a 
place on the Committee of Foreign Affairs, where his ability 
and vigor made him its leading member and the director of 
its policy. 

The election of Clay to the speakership is of moment 
for several reasons, not only, as we have said, because he 
represented a new, virile element in the party 
Clay the firat ^^^^ came from a new, energetic section of the 
country, but also because he was the first 
Speaker to make use of his position materially to influence 
legislation. He was therefore the first of modern speakers ; 
for from that time the power of the Speaker's office devel- 
oped so strongly along the lines that Clay marked out that 
it can now be justly called at least second in importance 
and power in the Government. " The natural leader of that 
moment was Henry Clay," says a recent wi'iter. " That the 
place he was given from which to lead the country was the 
chair of the House of Eepresentatives is a fact of great 
significance. . . . Henry Clay was elected more than any 
other Speaker as leader of the House."* Eandolph 
summed up the situation in 1812 in a telling question : 
"After you have raised these 25,000 men, shall we form a 
committee of public safety to carry on the war, or shall we 
depute the power to the Speaker ? Shall we declare that, 
the Executive not being capable of discerning the public 
interest or not having spirit enough to pursue it, we have 
appointed a committee to take the President and Cabinet 
into custody ? " The question is, like many of Eandolph's 
utterances, extravagant, but its irony discloses an interest- 
ing situation. 

For twenty years France had been treating the United 



this time on for forty years he was a conspicuous figure in American 
life. 

* Follett, The Speaker of the House of Representatives, p. 71. 



/ 



ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 281 

States sliamefully. But no French frigate had impressed 
American seamen on the ground that they were French- 
men, while England resorted boldly to this 
Warwith practice and replenished her crews from the 

crews of our merchantmen. Moreover, Napo- 
leon had taken the opportunity offered by the Macon Bill 
No. 2, and by cunning and deceit had put the United 
States at disadvantage. Added to this was the fact that 
the Republicans, in control of the Government, were fa- 
vorable to France and opposed to England. Coming, as 
many of them did, from the South and West, they did 
not fear the ravages of the English navy, because they 
had no commerce to be destroyed. So the United States 
finally drifted into a war with England and took up arms 
as the ally of Napoleon. Could there be stranger com- 
panions in arms than Napoleon Bonaparte and James 
Madison ? 

The young, ambitious Republicans, who were largely 
responsible for the war, hoped not only to make England 
respect our flag, but to seize Canada and to dictate, as they 
said, an honorable peace at Halifax. They were filled 
with zeal for showing American prowess. So Madison 
finally yielded to the impulses of a large portion of his 
party — timidly and reluctantly yielded, one must believe, 
for to fight at last seemed like casting a slur on the years 
through which he and Jefferson had struggled to avoid war, 
and had sought to find some peaceable method of coercion. 
Avoidance of war seemed now impossible, and Madison 
yielded to the inevitable. June 1, 1812, he sent to Congress 
a message recounting British aggressions on our rights. 
On the 18th Congress declared war. On the 16th of this 
same month the English ministry announced in the House 
of Commons that the Orders in Council were to be with- 
drawn, and a few days later they were formally revoked. 
Had there been an Atlantic cable in 1812 it is quite possible 

that the war would have been averted. 

20 



282 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



The 
combatants. 



The United States at the outbreak of the war had a 
population of about eight millions. Great Britain and 
Ireland had a population of nearly twenty mil- 
lions, and had for a long time been expending 
blood and treasure lavishly in the mortal con- 
flict with Napoleon. The land was nerved to great effort. 
The United States entered the conflict divided. There 
was not a universal sentiment that war was 
St'ate^ dilfded. ^^cessary. The North and East were the sec- 
tions which had suffered the most from the 
depredations inflicted by England on American commerce, 
yet many of the people of New England preferred to bear 
the ills they had rather than 




honorable losses of 
i^ war. If the choice 
must be made, they preferred 
a war with France, in order that Eng- 
land might be an ally and not an enemy, and that her fleet 
might not harry their coast and destroy their commerce. 
But if they must fight against the mistress of the seas, they 
desired that the navy be strengthened and given every help. 
Because of these different opinions the country was weaker 
than it should have been, and suffered disasters that might 
have been avoided had there been a common front against 
a common enemy. 

It was apparent at the outset that the Northwest must 
be protected. Some time before the formal declaration of 
war General William Hull was sent with a force from Ohio 



ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 



283 



to the defense of Detroit. War was declared while he was 
on the way. The British were posted at Maiden. Hull, 
after some disasters, arrived in Detroit, and 
N^lh^ ^^t^ ^^^^ passed over into Canada, pompously call- 
ing upon the Canadians to seek freedom from 
oppression under the American standard. Instead of push- 
ing on to Maiden, he delayed, crossed back to Detroit, and 
there called upon the Government for assistance. His 
position was soon perilous. His lines of communication 
with Ohio were broken, and on August 16th he surren- 
Detroit dered Detroit to the enemy. Mackinaw had 

surrendered, already fallen, and the Indians soon destroyed 
August, 1812. Pqj.^ Dearborn, where Chicago now stands. 
Michigan was in the hands 




of the enemy, and the 
whole Northwest in dan- 
ger. The Indians, under 
the leadership of Tecum- 
seh, a warrior of rare vig- 
or and ability, aided the 
British in these Western 
campaigns. The people 
of Michigan Territory re- 
mained in terror of the 
Indians throughout the 
war. 

Little was done in the 
East during this first sum- 
mer of the war. The 
strategic points were Ni- 
agara and the Champlain region. At the former place a 
battle was fought, resulting in defeat for the Americans.* 
The whole campaign of 1812 was a dismal failure, as far as 
the land battles were concerned. 



War on Niagara Frontier. 



* Battle of Queenstown, October 13th. 



284 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



On the sea, however, matters had taken a different turn. 
Our navy was small, but some of the vessels were good, and 
. officers and men had received excellent train- 

the'ocean.'"' ^^S ^ seamanship. The United States frigate 
Constitution, under command of Commodore 
Isaac Hull, fought and captured the English frigate Guer- 
ri^re. " In less than thirty minutes from the time we got 
alongside of the enemy," reported Hull, « she was left with- 
out a spar standing, and tlie hull cut to pieces in such a 




The Constitution. (From an old cut.) 

manner as to make it difficult to keep her above water." 
She was so badly damaged that the victors destroyed her. 
This was a momentous victory. «It raised the United 
States m one half hour to the rank of a first-class power." * 
Other victories followed quickly, and the people of the 
whole country were jubilant, especially the New England- 

♦ Henry Adams, History of the United States, vol. vi, p. 375. 



ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 285 

ers, who had long boasted that " the wooden walls of Co- 
lumbia " would prove the nation's best defense. It was 
apparent that Great Britain had found a rival on the 
ocean, and this at a time when a succession of victories in 
the Napoleonic wars had made England the mistress of the 
seas. America could not equal the enemy in strength, for 
the English navy was very large and powerful ; but when 
vessels met on anything like even terms the Americans 
showed themselves at least the equals of the English in 
gunnery, and often their superiors in seamanship. 

During this summer the presidential election occurred. 
We have already noticed the fact that there was oppo- 
sition to the war, and to Madison, who had final- 

The election ^ advised it. The Democratic candidates were 
of 1812. -^ 

Madison and Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts. 

The Federalists supported De Witt Clinton, of New York, 
and Jared Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania. In spite of the inef- 
ficient way in which the war was being conducted the Ad- 
ministration was sustained by the popular and the electoral 
vote. Madison received one hundred and twenty-eight elec- 
toral votes, Clinton eighty-nine. 

The campaign of 1813 began in discouragement. In 
January a company of brave Kentuckians, who had volun- 
teered to retake Detroit and to wipe out the disgrace of 
Hull's surrender, were attacked and beaten at the River 
Eaisin, in Michigan. The Americans were under General 
Winchester, the British under Proctor. The Indians in- 
flicted horrible brutalities on the wounded. 

In spite of this first failure to drive the British from 
Michigan the American army finally achieved success. 
General Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe, now commanded 
in the West. He held his own in northern Ohio,* and was 

* Fort Meigs, on the Maumee, commanded by Harrison, was at- 
tacked by the British in May. It was bravely defended, and the enemy 
was forced to retreat. This defeat cost the British the confidence and 
support of many of the Indians. 



286 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



ready when opportunity offered to proceed to Detroit. To 
do this with safety Lake Erie should be in our control. 

Battle of Lake ^^^ ^^ *^^ S^®^^ battles of the war took place 
Erie, September near the western end of that lake, between an 
14, 1813, American fleet under the command of Com- 

modore Perry and a British fleet commanded by Com- 
modore Barclay. The battle was picturesque. Perry had 
to leave his flagship, the Lawrence, during the engage- 
ment and row to another vessel. 
He finally conquered, and his 
announcement of the victory has 
become famous : " We have met 
the enemy, and they are ^ 

ours. Two ships, 
two brigs, 




Wab on Northern Frontier. 



one schooner, and one sloop." Harrison, with the aid of the 
fleet, passed to Detroit. Thence he followed the retreating 

army into Canada and defeated them at the bat- 
Thames ^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ Thames, October 5, 1813. Tecumseh 

October 5, was killed. The Indians remained hostile in the 

Northwest, but the British army was crushed, 
and no more open fighting took place in that region. 

In the East as well as the West there were some victories 
for the Americans. General Dearborn decided upon an ex- 
pedition to York (now Toronto). A successful attack was 
made upon the place and it was taken and destroyed. 



ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 287 

Later in the summer, Fort George, on the Niagara River, 
passed into our hands, the result of a fierce assault led by 

Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott, who dis- 
Battles in the tinguished himself for gallantry. Late in the 

autumn an unsuccessful expedition was set on 
foot against Montreal, and in December Fort George was 
abandoned. In other words, at the end of the second year 
of the war the situation on the northern boundary, except at 
Detroit, was much as at the beginning. The campaign had 
been managed with no energy and with little show of gen- 
eralship. 

On the ocean there were victories and defeats for the 
ambitious little navy. In February of this same year the 

American Hornet fought and sunk the Pea- 
Ont e ocean. ^qqI^^ h^q British brig Pelican captured the 
Argus, and the American brig Enterprise defeated the 
Boxer. The most noteworthy contest was that between 
the American frigate Chesapeake and the Shannon. The 
former was commanded by Captain Lawrence, who was 
anxious to meet the Shannon and accept a challenge pub- 
licly offered by the English commander. The engagement 
lasted but a few minutes, ending in a complete victory for 
the English vessel. Captain Lawrence was killed. The 
event caused great sadness in America, but the rejoicing in 
England was substantial proof that the defeat of a Yankee 
frigate was no longer considered a foregone conclusion. 

During the summer of this year and the winter of 1814 
there was some sharp fighting with the Indians in the 

South. General Jackson was finally victorious 
? \h^ ^^^^ them in a bloody battle at the Horseshoe, 

a great bend in the Tallapoosa River. This 
campaign under Jackson's energetic leadership destroyed 
the power of the Indians in that section. Many of them 
fled into Spanish territory, and in later years caused the 
United States much trouble. 

The year 1814 was hardly more cheering than the pre- 



288 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



vious one. General Wilkinson, in the Ohamplain region, 
began the campaign by an example of inefficiency. The 
summer bade fair to be disastrous. English 
h\\*r^i8U vessels hovered along our coast, and the appar- 
ent defeat of Napoleon in Europe gave opportu- 
nity to send over to America some of the veterans of that 
long contest. On the Niagara frontier our troops under 
General Brown, an able man, fought with great gallantry. 
The battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane were victories 

for the Americans, 
where Scott again dis- 
tinguished himself. 
These successful en- 
gagements gave us a 
slight hold on Canada, 
but in the autumn the 
American troops were 
withdrawn to the New 
York side of the river, 
and the year ended 
with nothing accom- 
plished in that quar- 
ter. 

A victory on Lake Champlain gave some encourage- 
ment. The British Avith a large force were intending an 

invasion of New York by the old route, by the 
Battle of Lake ^ -r i r^i i* i i n i 

Ohamplain, ^ay of Lake Champlain ; but the success de- 
September, pended on the support of the accompanying 

fleet. All hope of assistance from this quarter 
was soon destroyed. An American fleet under Commodore 
Macdonough met and defeated the British off Plattsburg in 
a desperate and hard-fought contest. 

During the summer the eastern coast was much harried 
by the enemy. In August they appeared in the vicinity 
of AVashington, finally taking that city, after some feeble 
efforts at resistance. They burned the Capitol as a " har- 




ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON-1809-1817. 



289 



bor of Yankee democracy." The President's house and 
some of the other public buildings were likewise destroyed. 
This was said to be in retaliation for American 



Jkwashi 



Washington 

^ taken, August, acts in Canada. The Americans had burned 
^^^^' the Government buildings at York; but this 

had been done by some private soldiers acting without 
authority, and was denounced by the press of the whole 
country and disowned by the commanding general. The 
English people, too, regretted the burning of the buildings 



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''"'-A — 



. ^^washingSton-,!/; W vJ-^ 



A3, 






/■ 






./ 









^5- \ « 




-7 \xs%r/ 



VICINITY OF .1 
IJALTIMOIIK A. WA8HIN0T0N 
ill 1S12 






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^"^.fr 



:!_/|^ll,^ 



290 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



at Washington. One paper said : " The Cossacks spared 
Paris, but we spared not the Capitol of America." 

The naval events of this year were not so interesting as 
those of the preceding year. The sloop Essex, after an 
extended cruise in the Pacific protecting 
American whalers and capturing those of the 
enemy, was destroyed by two English ships 
after a fierce and stubborn contest near Valparaiso. Other 
battles served to keep up the reputation of the navy. But 



Naval events 
1814. 




Cruise of the Essex. 

by this time the English fleet on our coast was so large 
that it actually blockaded the principal ports of the United 
States. 

In the latter part of this year the British prepared to 
make an attack upon New Orleans. They sent ten thousand 
veteran troops for the purpose. General Jackson was in 
command of the United States forces in that quarter. 
After some skirmishing, the enemy made a grand assault 



ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 291 

upon the American defenses, January 8th. Our forces were 
well protected, and the attack was disastrous to the English. 
Battle of New 1'lieii' loss was very great; their commander 
Orleans, Jan- was killed, and some two thousand of the 
^^^^' ' troops were either killed, wounded, or missing. 
The Americans lost about seventy. 

This battle was fought two weeks after peace had been 
concluded at Ghent. The treaty ending the war (December 
24, 1814) settled none of the questions in dis- 
^heut pute. But the war was nevertheless not with- 

out results. Our little navy had shown its 
mettle. American privateers had done immense damage to 
British shipping. Impressment was now a thing of the 
past, and it needed no clause in a treaty to make it so. 
America had beyond question dignified itself among the 
nations. And yet one can not help regretting that the war 
could not have been avoided. It was waged by one free 
nation against another free nation, and it aided Napoleon, 
the enemy of free institutions everywhere. It was waged 
by two peoples whose real interests were the same, and 
whose mission in history has been the development of lib- 
erty and civilization. 

During the war there had been great dissatisfaction in 

New England. In the latter part of 1814 a convention of 

delegates from these States met at Hartford. 

Hartford j^ ^^g commonly supposed that it would plot 

convention. ./ 1 1 ^ x 

a disruption of the Union ; but it simply drew 
up remonstrances, and proposed amendments to the Con- 
stitution intended to protect a minority of the States 
against unwelcome Federal legislation. The doctrines laid 
down were similar to those of the Virginia resolution of 
1798 : " In cases of deliberate, dangerous, and palpable in- 
fractions of the Constitution, affecting the sovereignty of 
the State and liberties of the people, it is not only the 
right but the duty of such a State to interpose its authority 
for their protection. . . . States which have no common 



292 mSTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

umpire must be their own judges and execute their own 
decisions." Peace came before anything was accomplished. 
The Federal party, whose stronghold was New England, 
was brought into discredit and disrepute because it had not 
entered heartily into the war. 

The war did much to nationalize the country. State 
selfishness and pride had in the minds of the majority of 

the people given place to a broader love of 

country. The New Englandcr had grumbled 
and indulged in perpetual fault-finding, and his opposition 
had given the Government great anxiety and much trouble ; 
but his cheek, too, flushed with pride as he thought of the 
victories of the Yankee ships upon the sea, and remembered 
how Yankee seamanship had more than once excelled the 
skill of the British tars. And so when the war ended there 
was prospect for a more firmly united nation than ever 
before. 

The monetary affairs of the country were in great con- 
fusion during the war, and at its close the task of bringing 

about order and system was a difficult one.* 
Lnr°^*''''^^ Albert Gallatin, the great Secretary of the 

Treasury, who had served from the beginning 
of JefPerson's administration, had gone abroad as one of the 
envoys to make the peace of Ghent, and had given up the 
secretaryship. Alexander J. Dallas now held the position, 
a man of good ability, especially in financial matters. 

* " Among the severest trials of the war was the deficiency of ade- 
quate funds to sustain it, and the progressive degradation of the na- 
tional credit. The currency soon fell into frightful disorder. Banks 
with fictitious capital swarmed through the land and spunged the purse 
of the people, often for the use of their own money with more than 
usurious extortion. . . . The Treasury of the Union was replenished 
only with countless millions of silken tatters and unavailable funds: 
chartered corporations, bankrupt, . . . passed off upon the Govern- 
ment of their country, at par, their rags — purchasable, in open market, 
at depreciations of thirty and forty per cent." (John Quincy Adams, 
The Lives of Madison and Monroe, p. 272.) 



ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 293 

Just before entering upon the war Congress had refused 
(1811) to recharter the National Bank, whose charter then 
expired. State banks had as a consequence increased 
greatly in numbers, many of them without more than the 
merest show of capital. The value of their notes was a 
matter of conjecture. Most of the banks were utterly un- 
able to do more than put out promises to pay, for specie 
they did not have. In 1810 a new Bank bill was introduced 
into Congress and passed. The charter was for twenty years, 
the capital $35,000,000, of which one fifth was to be owned 
by the United States. One fifth of the directors were to be 
appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. 

Soon after the close of the war there came a demand 
for the protection of American manufactures. The long 
period of war in Europe, the embargo, and the 
non-intercourse policy had resulted in the en- 
couragement of manufacturing in this country, because the 
products of France and England were not brought into our 
ports and into competition with the home product. After 
the war English goods were thrown upon our market in 
large quantities. To protect manufacturers and to make 
the country independent of foreign countries, a tariff law 
was passed (1816). This was in essence a protective tariff, 
and to all practical purposes the first of that kind. It was 
supported by the South and West. Its strongest opponent 
was Daniel Webster, representing the commercial interests 
of New England. In the course of a few years the South 
became opposed to a tariff and the North in favor of it.* 

For thirty years and more there had been a continuous 
movement of population from the States of the Atlantic 
seaboard into the Mississippi Valley. At the close of the 

* The time was not far distant when many men at the South would 
echo the words that John Randolph, of Virginia, used in the debate 
upon this tariff bill : " Upon whom bears the duty on coarse woolens 
and blankets, on salt and the necessaries of life? Upon poor men and 
slave owners." 



294 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

war this movement assumed larger proportions than before ; 

thousands and tens of thousands made their way into the 

West, and yet almost nothing had been done to 

Internal connect the Eastern States with the new com- 

improvements. 

monwealths that were growing up beyond the 
mountains. As early as 1806 money had been appropriated 
for what was known as the Cumberland Eoad. This was to 
run from the Potomac over the mountains and into the 
West. Something over a hundred miles of road had been 
built by 1816, when Calhoun introduced a bill to use the 
proceeds which the Government received from the bank 
for internal improvements. This bill was vetoed by Madi- 
son on the ground of unconstitutionality. Some years 
later Monroe vetoed the so-called Cumberland Eoad bill for 
the same reason. This looked as if a policy of strict con- 
struction was to be again taken up. But this was almost 
the only sign of a wish to return to the narrow policy the 
Eepublicans had favored twenty years before. Experience 
and the war had done much to crush out a timorous dread 
of governmental power. It is interesting to notice that 
Calhoun and some other Southern men were then strong 
advocates of such internal improvements and of a broad 
national policy. " Let it not be forgotten," said Calhoun, 
" let it be forever kept in mind, that the extent of our re- 
public exposes us to the greatest of all calamities, next to 
the loss of liberty, and even to that in consequence — dis- 
union." 

Because of the part the extreme Federalists had taken 
during the war the party was now in disfavor. Many per- 
sons who had themselves been very critical while the war 
was in progress, now found no fault with the Administra- 
^, tion. It was not uncertain who would succeed 

ine 

presidential to the presidency. Monroe had been promi- 
election, 1816. n^nt for years in various places of public 
trust. He had been an efficient Secretary of State during 
Madison's administration, and for a time, when the dangers 



ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 



295 



and disasters had been the greatest, had been Secretary of 
War also. He had shown considerable capacity and vigor, 
and was almost the only person in high office that had 
come out of the war with distinction. The result of the 
election was the choice of Monroe for President, and Daniel 
D. Tomkins for Vice-President. The Federalists cast their 
ballots for Rufus King, but did not unite on a Vice-Presi- 
dent. They carried only Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 
Delaware. 

References. 

Short accounts: Hart, The Formation of the Union, pp. 199-226 ; 
Walker, The Making of the Nation, pp. 214-275 ; Gay, James Madi- 
son, pp. 282-321 ; Gilman, James Monroe, Chapter V ; Schurz, 
Henry Clay, Volume I, pp. 68-126 ; Hrgginson, Larger History, 
Chapter XV. Longer accounts : Schouler, History, Volume II, pp. 
279-462 ; Hildreth, History, Volume VI, pp. 149-618 ; McMaster, 
History, Volume III, pp. 339-560, Volume IV, pp. 1-419 ; Adams, 
History, Volumes V-IX ; Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume 
IV, pp. 180-247 ; Roosevelt, Naval War of 1812 ; Maclay, United 
States Navy. 



\\*.\ 



'\i% m m m 



HousE IN Ghent wheke the Commissioners Met to Agree upon 
THE Treaty of Peace that Ended the War of 1812. 



CHAPTER XIIL 
Political and Industrial Reorganization— 1817-1829. 



The era of 
good feeling, 



ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MONROE— 1817-1825. 

Moitroe's Cabinet contained a number of strong men. 
John Quincy Adams was appointed Secretary of State; 
William H. Crawford, of Georgia, Secretary of 
the Treasury ; and J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of 
War. The eight years of Monroe's presidency 
were not devoid of interesting problems and of occurrences 
that mean a good deal in our history. But the old party 
disputes that were carried on with so much bitterness were 

now for a time laid aside. The 
country enjoyed an " era of good 
feeling." A journey through 
the Northern States which was 
made by Monroe soon after his 
inauguration did something to 
bring about the change. " The 
visit of the President," said a 
newspaper of the time, " seems 
to have allayed the storms of 
party. People now meet in the 
same room who a short while 
since would scarcely pass each 
other along the street." 

There were many reasons 
for this era of good will. The 
times had changed. The war had had in reality a na- 
tionalizing effect. The great questions of foreign policy 
^ 296 




^,^--:?<^-t'«t^ 



ADMINISTRATION OP MONROE— 1817-1825. 297 

which had divided the people since the coming of Genet 
were now no more. The changed commercial conditions 
bade people forget their party strivings and 
^oTd feeUng. ®^*®^ lustily into the tasks of business life. The 
new West, opening up with all its possibilities 
of wealth and empire, filled men's minds with hopes of a 
great material destiny for their country. Moreover, there 
was nothing left for the Federalists, disgraced by the name 
of the Hartford convention. The Eepublicans were now 
construing the Constitution as broadly as did the Federal- 
ists in the days of Hamilton.* 

One of the most noticeable facts of the period was the 
development of the West and Southwest. There had long 
been an intermittent stream of migration over 
thf We st *° ^^^^ mountains from the seacoast States. When- 
ever times were bad or the ocean commerce 
was seriously interfered with, then many turned their faces 
westward and sought new homes. Ohio was admitted to 
the Union in 1803. Louisiana, in 1812. Between 1810 and 
1816 the population of Ohio increased from two hundred 
and thirty thousand to about four hundred thousand. In 
the same period the number of people in Indiana leaped 
from twenty-four thousand to nearly three times that num- 
ber. The Southern seacoast States poured their citizens 
into Illinois and the Territories of the Southwest. Many of 
the Eastern States were almost stationary in population. 
North Carolina complained that within twenty-five years 
two hundred thousand people had removed to the waters of 
the Ohio and Tennessee. Virginia, " the Old Dominion," 
might almost be said to be the mother of States as well as 
of Presidents. " While many other States " reported a com- 
mittee of her legislature, " have been advancing in wealth 
and numbers with a rapidity which has astonished them- 

* " There should be now no difference of parties," said Josiah 
Quincy, " for the Republicans have out-federalized Federalism." See 
Schouler, vol. ii, p. 462. 
21 



298 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



/^ '!•>',<. '^j'"'" iS^< •'- '4%-'"' 'f-u^'^M 






^-^ tV ^ 




Cincinnati in 1810. (From an old print.) 

selves, the ancient Dominion and elder sister of the Union 
has remained stationary. . . . The fathers of the land are 
gone where another outlet to the ocean turns their thoughts 
from the place of their nativity, and their affections from 
the haunts of their youth." 

Great as was this westward movement during the years 
just mentioned, after 1816 it was even greater. The tide 
Significance ^^ migration to the new West became a mighty 
of westward current. Steamboats plied up and down the 
expansion. Western rivers. Prosperous towns sprang up, 

and big plantations stretched along the rich river bottoms 
of the Southern States. In 1816 Indiana came into the 
Union; Mississippi (1817), Illinois (1818), Alabama (1819), 
Missouri (1821), followed in quick succession. The United 
States had entered fairly upon a new stage of its existence. 
In 1775 there were thirteen colonies scattered along the 
Atlantic coast ; their traditions were colonial ; they looked 
eastward across three thousand miles of water to a mother 
country whose leading strings they were ready to cast 
aside. Forty years later only four States had been formed 



ADMINISTRATION OF MONROE— 1817-1825. 



299 



west of the mountains ; tlie people still looked toward 
Europe, and their politics were largely shaped by foreign 
conditions. In 1820 there were eight States in the Missis- 
sippi Valley, and everywhere a Western vigor and energy 
showed themselves. The center of population in 1789 was 
thirty miles east of Baltimore. It had now moved west- 
ward over one hundred and twenty miles, even beyond the 
Shenandoah. No longer was the United States a row of 
seacoast republics, but an empire stretching away to the 
interior, giving visions of continental dominion. In the 
great valley won from France in the momentous conflict 
seventy-five years before, the American people were now 
waxing strong, regardless and forgetful of old colonial de- 
pendence, and heedless of European politics. 

In considering this Western expansion three things are 
noticeable that acted as means or causes : (1) The steam- 
boat was an important factor. Without it the populating 
of the West must have been a slower process. (2) More- 




Westekn Extension op Population in 1820. 

[The western bouudaries of Missouri and Arkansas are given as they wero 
at a later date.] 



300 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

over, just at this time, at the close of the great European 
wars, emigration from Europe to America set vigorously 

in and added to the population of the coun- 
Eeasons for tiis ^yj^ ^3^ More interesting, and perhaps in the 

long run more important, than either of these 
things is the fact that the fertile fields of the Southwest at- 
tracted thousands of slave owners from the seaboard States 
who desired to raise cotton from the virgin soil. 

To understand the meaning of this Southern movement, 
we must remember that cotton raising was comparatively a 

recent industry for the South. Some cotton 

fnH^?^*^' had been raised in colonial times; but it took 
cotton gm, ' 

SO long to pick the seeds from the fiber that it 
was not a very remunerative crop. In 1793 Eli Whitney 
invented the cotton gin. With this ingenious machine one 
slave could do as much work in cleaning the cotton as 
hundreds of slaves had done before. About the same time 
the great inventions in England for spinning and weaving 
by machinery gave a strong stimulus to such industry. 
Cotton raising now became very profitable. Negroes made 
good field hands, and slaves rose in value. A migration set 
in to the new regions of the Southwest, where the fertile 
lands were soon transformed into wide plantations. Thus 
it was, that just as the N^orthwest was filling with men who 
worked for themselves and earned their bread by the sweat 
of their own brows, the southern part of the Mississippi 
Valley was given over to slavery. 

When we examine the commercial and business con- 
dition of the nation during thic period we see that it was a 

period of transition, a period of readjustment, 
fransitfonf ^^^ almost the fourth of a century there had 

been war in Europe, and American trade had 
grown up largely on what we may call a war basis. Now 
there was peace ; and men, that had been accustomed to the 
more reckless ventures of trade in time of war, found they 
must learn new lessons of cool calculation and unlearn 



ADMINISTRATION OP MONROE— 1817-1825. 301 

much that they had learned before. On the whole, the 
people showed energy and skill in adapting themselves to 
the new conditions. 

Men entered joyously upon the pursuits of peace, and 
for a year or two after the war there seemed to be pros- 
perity. What are commonly called flush times 
prevailed. Men were led into speculation and 
were tempted to run wildly into debt. Such conduct 
always brings its reward in disaster. Only gradually could 
the losses of the war be repaired, or business be established 
on a fair basis and lasting prosperity secured. Every hasty 
step simply added to the trouble that was to come. 

Before an era of sound prosperity commenced, the 
country passed through the hardships of a commercial 
panic. For this there were many reasons. The 
and their currency in common use in many parts of the 

-^■ -^ - — 4and was of fluctuating and uncertain value, or 

of no value at all ; much of it consisted of notes issued 
by banks acting under State charters without sufficient 
capital, often with scarcely any specie or real money of any 
kind. English manufacturers by sundry devices avoided 
the tariff laws and flooded the Eastern cities with their 
goods. Other causes co-operated to bring confusion and 
uncertainty in business. Great depression was the in- 
evitable result. " The years 1819 and 1820," says Benton 
in his Thirty Years' View, " were a period of gloom and 
agony. 'No money, either gold or silver ; no paper con- 
vertible into specie ; no measure or standard of value left 
remaining. ... No price for property or produce. No 
smployment for industry, no demand for labor, no sale for 
the product of the farm, no sound of the hammer, but 
that of the auctioneer knocking down property." Benton 
knew the West, and perhaps he did not exaggerate the 
conditions. This was the first of those severe commer- 
cial panics which have during this century swept over our 
country. 



302 HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

The United States Bank was charged by many with 
"bringing on tha hard times, for which it seems indeed to have 

been in part responsible.* Some of the States 
Bank!''*''''^^ tried to prevent it from establishing branch 

banks within their limits. In the case of 
McCulloch vs. Maryland, the Supreme Court decided that 
the bank was constitutional, and that a State could not tax 
the bank, as it was an agent of the United States. For 
some time, however, in the West the establishment of branch 
banks was resisted, and in Ohio the bank was for a while 
practically an outlaw. 

From the beginning of the century our Government had 
been desirous of getting possession of the Floridas. It will 

be remembered that West Florida had been 
Acquisition of claimed as part of the Louisiana purchase, on 

the ground that the original Louisiana— that is 
to say, " Louisiana as it was in the hands of France " — had 
extended to the east of Mobile Bay, and even to the Per- 
dido. In 1810 f a considerable portion of this territory was 
occupied by American troops, and in the early part of 1813 
Mobile was taken and a fort built at the entrance of the 
harbor. But for some years after this the rest of the 
Floridas remained in the hands of Spain. In 1818 General 
Andrew Jackson, engaged in fighting the Seminole Indians 
who were then at war, entered Florida and hanged two 
Englishmen, on the ground that they had given aid and 
comfort to the Seminoles and were but " outlaws and 
pirates." This showed that the province was not in reality 
governed by Spain, but was at our mercy. In 1819 Spain 
ceded Florida to the United States. In payment, the 
United States agreed to pay the claims of our citizens 

* See McMaster, History, vol. iv, p. 495. The succeeding pages of 
this chapter in McMaster are very readable and instructive. 

f A proclamation was issued by Madison in 1810 ordering the seiz- 
ure and possession of the land " south of the Mississippi Territory and 
eastward of the Mississippi, and extending to the river Perdido." 



ADMINISTRATION OF MONROE— 18174825. 303 

against Spain to the amount of $5,000,000. The western 
boundary of Louisiana was at the same time determined ; 
we surrendered any claim we might have to the Texas 
country, and Spain gave up all claim to land north of the 
forty-second parallel.* The treaty was not ratified by 
Spain till 1821. 

For nearly a generation after the adoption of the Con- 
stitution there was no great contest on the subject of slav- 
ery. The exciting events that rapidly followed 
question in one upon another after the foundation of the 
politics. Government gave little opportunity for discus- 

sion of the slavery question. Men, in fact, did not realize 
that during these years the North and the South were de- 
veloping differently ; and in 1818 no one seemed to appre- 
ciate the fact that the situation had radically changed in 
the past thirty years, that the two sections had grown apart 
in the essentials of their social and industrial life, and that 
the opinion of the South on slavery was now quite different 
from the prevailing opinion of the N^orth. When the Con- 
stitution was formed all the States save Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire had slaves, but everywhere in the North 
the institution was losing ground. At the North the in- 
dustry and life of the people were not materially influ- 
enced by slave labor ; at the South society was built upon 
that system. But in the South as well as in the North it 
was considered by thinking men an evil. The ablest Vir- 
ginia statesmen lamented the existence of slavery and fore- 
told its baneful effect. In the Philadelphia convention 
George Mason, of Virginia, used these words: "Slavery 
discourages arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor 

* See the map. This line of 1819 is important. It ran up the west 
branch of Sabine River to 32° latitude and thence due north to the Red 
River ; thence up the Red River to longitude 100° ; thence due north to 
the Arkansas River ; thence along the south bank of the Arkansas to 
its source, in latitude 42°, or by a direct line from its source to the 42d 
parallel ; thence due west to the Pacific. 



304 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

when performed by slaves. They prevent the emigration 
of whites, who really enrich and strengthen a country. 
They produce the most pernicious effect on manners. 
Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring 
the judgment of Heaven on a country. As nations can not 
be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in 
this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects. Provi- 
dence punishes national sins by national calamities." 

It is true that the delegates from the most southern 
States contended in the convention for permission to intro- 
duce slaves, and the Constitution in conse- 
not^eaUze t^e quence declared such introduction should not 
growth of be prohibited before January 1, 1808.* And it 

slavery, ^^ ^^.^^ ^l_^^^ ^^ ^ later time representatives in 

Congress from these same States bitterly resented attacks 
upon slavery. But the Northern men were for some years 
deluded by the hope that in the natural course of events 
slavery would disappear from the South, as it was every- 
where disappearing in the North. In 1807 a bill was passed 
making the importation of slaves illegal after the end of 
the year, and later the President was authorized to use the 
ships of war to stop the African slave trade. Upon neither 
of these matters was there great discussion or excitement, 
and until 1819 the North slumbered on, in large measure 
regardless of the fact that slavery was winding ever more 
firmly its coils about the Southern States, that opinion in 
Virginia was changed, that already the lower part of the 
Mississippi Valley was utterly given over to the system. 
The greatest reason for the extension of slavery and for its 
gaining a stronger hold than had seemed possible forty 
years before lay in the fact that cotton raising had become 
a widespread industry, an industry for which slave labor 
seemed to be well fitted. 

Thus the two sections had been developing differently, 



* Constitution, art. i, sec. 9, § 1. 



ADMINISTRATION OF MONROE— 1817-1835. 



305 



TE\RRITORY 

LakeofVte 
" ^Yoods 



and suddenly it was seen that Northern and Southern sen- 
timents were antagonistic. Slavery became a political ques- 
tion, aroused the fear of men, and stirred them 
butisawak- ^^ bitterness in debate. Although the North 

ened to tne fact. ° 

had been gaining in population more rapidly 

than the South, slave States and free States had been ad- 
mitted into the Union alternately, and the balance between 
the sections had been kept in the Senate, where each State 
had equal weight with 
every other. A propo- 
sition to exclude slav- 
ery from a State seek- 
ing admission disclosed 
to the people how wide- 
ly they had drifted 
asunder. 

The matter came up 
in this wise. Missouri 
applied for admission 
to the Union. In 1819, 
when an act for this 
purpose was before the 
House, John Tall- 
madge, Jr., a represen- 
tative from New York, 
introduced an amend- 
ment to the act provid- 
ing that no more slaves The Missouri Compeomise Line.* 
should be introduced into Missouri, and that all children 
born after the admission of the State should 
TheMissonri ^^ f^.^^ ^^ ^^iQ age of twenty-five years. The 

controversy. ° j j 

House adopted the amendment. The Senate 
rejected it. The discussion lasted long. The whole coun- 
try was aroused to a high pitch of excitement. Now 
Maine, about to separate from Massachusetts, asked ad- 

* Arkansas was organized as a Territory in 1819, but not till 1824 
were the boundaries, here marked, established. 




306 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

mission as a State. The friends of slavery sought to make 
the admission of Maine dependent on the admission of Mis- 
souri without the Tallmadge amendment. A compromise 
was finally agreed upon (1820). It provided for the ad- 
mission of Missouri as a slave State, but with this exception 
there was to be no slavery in the Territory purchased from 
France under the name of Louisiana north of the line 36° 
30'. Maine was also admitted.* 

A question of considerable interest was discussed in the 

course of the debate. Could Congress place conditions 

upon the admission of a State ? It was strongly 

Constitutional ^rgued that it could, and as strongly that it 

questions. ^ ' '^ ^ 

could not. This can be said with some cer- 
tainty, that Congress can make no conditions permanently 
binding upon a State which would deprive it of equality 
with other States. Congress has power to admit new States 
into this Union,f and "this Union," it was cogently and 
rightly said, is a union of equal States. When the bills 
came before Monroe he hesitated to sign them. Was it 
within the power of Congress to banish slavery from this 
Western land ? He finally signed the bills, and there seemed 
in 1820 to be a general belief that the compromise was con- 
stitutional. 

When Missouri presented herself for final admission into 
the Union, it was discovered that the Constitution con- 
tained a clause forbidding the entrance of free 
The second ncOToes. This caused difficulty anew; but a 

compromise. ^ -^ ' 

compromise was adopted, through Clay's effort, 
whereby Missouri was admitted, but with the understand- 
ing that citizens of other States should not be deprived of 

* The line of 36° 30' is the northern line of North Carolina. The 
northern boundary of Tennessee varies slightly from this parallel, run- 
ning somewhat to the north, between the mountains and the Cumber- 
land River. West of the river the line of 36° 30' is the northern 
boundary. 

f Constitution, art. iv, sec. 3. 



ADMINISTRATION OP MONROE— 1817-1825. 307 

their rights under the Federal Constitution of going to 
Missouri.* 

Thus the cleavage between slavery and freedom was 
clearly marked by a geographical line. This whole bitter 
controversy showed the people how they differed, 
s^eltionj!''''* It rang out, said the aged Jefferson, " like a 
fire-bell in the night." There were now two sec- 
tions well defined, differing more and more as the years went 
by in industrial and social makeup. For each succeeding year 
the South was more under the influence of this one institu- 
tion, while the North was developing like the rest of the 
civilized world, free from the weight of slavery. 

In the midst of the excitement of the Missouri question 
the election of 1820 occurred. Monroe was again elected, 
this time with but one dissenting vote. The 
InslT^^^ Federalists were now no more. In ^ew Eng- 
land some still remained as a sort of social 
reminiscence, but they could not be called a party. There 
were grounds for differences of opinion, but parties did 
not form again until some years later. 

One of the most important problems that arose in these 
years grew out of our relations with the states of Central 
and South America. After the close of the 
Anferican States Napoleonic wars, all the Spanish continental 
and the Holy colonies from Mexico to the far south, one by 
^^°^' one, threw off the yoke of Spain, and finally 

succeeded in sustaining themselves as independent powers. 
At this same time the so-called " Holy Alliance " was formed 
in Europe, made up of the most powerful monarchs of the 
Continent. Its chief aim was to check the growth of de- 
mocracy, and to strengthen the hold of absolutism on the 
people. As long as the work of the Holy Alliance was con- 
fined to Europe we had no ground of complaint ; but there 
began to be signs that government by the people was not 

* See Constitution, art. iv, sec. 3, § 1. 



308 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

safe from interference even on this continent ; that efforts 
would be made to overthrow the free governments set up 
in Central and South America, and compel the return of 
these states to Spanish control. In addition to this trouble, 
our Government was somewhat uneasy over the fact that 
Russia showed an inclination to creep down the western 
coast of North America and to claim land considerably 
south of what might justly be considered her right. 

Under these circumstances Monroe sent to Congress 
(December, 1823) a message which contained a statement 

of the foreign policy of the United States, 
doctrine^^^ There were two chief propositions : That any 

attempt on the part of the European powers 
" to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere " 
would be considered " as dangerous to our peace and safety," 
and that any effort to oppress the South American states 
or to control their destiny would be viewed as a " manifesta- 
tion of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States." 
Second — as a warning to Russia — that the American conti- 
nents were no longer "to be considered as subjects for 
future colonization by any European power." The next 
year Russia entered into a treaty with us, agreeing not to 
claim territory south of 54° 40', the present southern bound- 
ary of Alaska.* Monroe's message undoubtedly made the 
Holy Alliance pause and consider. England was in sym- 
pathy with our action. " This crowning effort of Monroe's 
career contrasted well with that to which it stood opposed, 

* The Monroe Doctrine, as it was announced in 1823, had its roots 
in the past (see Oilman's Monroe, chap. vii). And it now means more 
than it did in 1823. " On its negative side it is a strong jealousy 
in respect to European interference in any and all matters that are 
peculiarly American, and particularly North American. In a word, it 
is the national resolution to assert and to maintain the leadership that 
the people believe both Nature and history have assigned to them on 
the two continents." It is a sentiment produced by historical and geo- 
graphical conditions ; it is in no proper sense a principle of inter- 
national law. 



ADMINISTRATION OF MONROE— 1817-1825. 



809 



for the main motive was to shelter honorably these tender 
blossoms of liberty on kindred soil from the cold Siberian 
blasts of despotism." * 

In 1824 there was a demand for another tariff act mate- 
rially increasing the duties on imported goods. Clay was 
the leader in this movement, while Webster 
1824.^"^ '^^ vigorously opposed it, as he had the act of 1816. 
Clay advocated what he called a "genuine 
American policy," the object of which was to build up 
home industry and give a home market for American prod- 
ucts. The act was passed, but 
the majority in both houses 
was very small. The vote 
was sectional, too — an ominous 
fact — for the South was vig- 
orously opposed to a protective 
tariff, on the ground that it en- 
riched the manufacturer at the 
expense of the agriculturist. 

The election of 1824 was 
rather a personal than a party 
contest. There were many 
questions of public policy 
about which persons might 
honestly differ, especially in- 
ternal improvements and the 
tariff ; but as yet men had not 
organized to defend their be- 
liefs on these matters. In 
those days candidates for the presidency were not pre- 
sented by national conventions, as they are now.f The 




* Schouler's History, vol. iii, p. 291. 

f Washington and Adams were not nominated in any proper sense 
of the word at all. There was a general understanding that they were 
to be voted for. The caucus system of nomination was not fully estab- 
lished until 1800. See Hinsdale, The American Government, chap. xxx. 



310 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

"regular" nomination was made by a "caucus" of the 
members of Congress. Such a caucus, composed of only a 
minority of the Eepublican congressmen, nomi- 
^^894°*^°^ nated William H. Crawford, of Georgia. Craw- 
ford was then Secretary of the Treasury, but 
for some time he had been much broken and at times 
physically unable to perform the duties of his office. The 
nomination of a man in his condition, and that, too, by a 
minority of the members, was so preposterous that the 
caucus method of presenting candidates was discredited. 
This was said to be the death of " King Caucus," for this 
was the last of such nominations. Other candidates were 
named for this election by State Legislatures. They were 
John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Andrew Jackson. 
The result of the contest was surprising. Adams received 
84 votes, Crawford 41, Henry Clay 37, while Andrew 
Jackson, whose candidacy had in many quarters not been 
taken seriously because of his lack of experience in po- 
litical affairsj received 99 votes. The choice of one from 
the three highest candidates was thus thrown upon the 
House of Eepresentatives. Clay, whose influence in Con- 
gress was great, favored Adams, and the New Englander 
was elected, much to the disgust of Jackson's friends, who 
claimed that the will of the people had been disregarded, 
and that Adams and Clay had entered into a corrupt 
bargain. There was no difficulty about the vice-presi- 
dency, Calhoun having been elected without serious oppo- 
sition. 

The " era of good feeling " was at an end. There had 
been more or less ill feeling all the time. Political ques- 
tions had often been bitterly discussed, and per- 
Endoferaof | animus had often taken the place of 

good feeling. ^ 

political principle. As yet, however, parties 
with principles were not formed. For some years after this 
men spoke of "Jackson men" and "Adams men." But 
the elements of party organization were at hand, and out 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN Q. ADAMS— 1825-1829. 311 

of the bitterness of personal contests parties with principles 
were sure soon to arise. 

References. 

Short accounts: Hart, Formation of the Union, pp. 231-252; 
Gilman, .James Monroe, Chapters VI and VII ; Schurz, Henry Clay, 
Volume I, pp. 126-258 ; Von Hoist, John C. Calhoun, Chapter HI ; 
Morse, John Quincy Adams, pp. 102-177; Higginson, Larger His- 
tory, Chapters XVI and XVII. Longer accounts: Schouler, His- 
tory, Volume HI, pp. 1-335. The pupil will be entertained by the 
fascinating series of chapters in McMaster, Volume IV, which treat 
topically the different phases of this period of reorganization and 
readjustment. Read especially Chapters XXX-XXXIX, and, above 
all. Chapter XXXIII. 



John Quincy 
Adams I 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS— 1825-1829. 

When John Quincy Adams came to the presidential 
chair he was in his fifty-eighth year. He had been for 

thirty years in 

public life. He 

had been foreign 
minister, senator, and, during 
Monroe's administrations, Sec- 
retary of State. His charac- 
ter was beyond reproach. He 
was scrupulously honest, his 
straightforwardness amount- 
ing to bluntness. He was 
ambitious, but not meanly self- 
seeking, and he devoted him- 
self untiringly and unselfishly 
to the duties of his office. He 
was not actuated by petty a Ct A i 
motive, and never consented ^ • ^ * *-^ ^ clA'ylS " 
to make use of improper means to secure power or influ- 
ence. Able as well as honest, he was one of the best 




SVz HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

officers that ever served a people. High-minded himself, 
he demanded purity in others, and his caustic criticism 
of the motives and acts of his fellows often estranged 
those whom he might have won as his friends. He was 
formal and cold in his manners, and had no great tact or 
talent as a political leader. 

Adams made Clay his Secretary of State. It was a 

natural choice ; for the two men thought alike on political 

issues, and Clay certainly merited the distinc- 

Oharges of Hon. But the appointment srave countenance 

corruption. i i i . 

to those who asserted that, by making promise 
of the secretaryship, Adams had secured his own election. 
The charge was utterly unfounded ; but it was believed by 
many, and had no little effect on the public mind. Through- 
out the administration, the friends of Jackson proclaimed 
without ceasing that the " people's candidate " had been 
defrauded of his rights.* 

There was much personal bitterness during these four 
years. The people were divided into " Adams men " and 

" Jackson men." Yet the elements of distinct 
Begmnmgs of political parties with real principles were 

clearly enough in existence, and Adams, both 
by selecting the founder of the " American system " as his 
Secretary of State, and by favoring in his first message a 
broad and liberal policy for the National Government, ac- 
tually announced the beginnings of a new party. The 
message advocated appropriations for roads and canals, and 



* John Randolph, a master of malicious abuse, referred to the "cor- 
rupt coalition between the Puritan and blackleg," and called the 
administration a "puritanic-diplomatic-blacklegged administration." 
Clay challenged him to a duel, and a meeting occurred. Neither was 
injured. Benton records the affair, and ends : " On Monday the parties 
exchanged cards and social relations were . . . restored. It was about 
the last high-toned duel that I have witnessed, and among the highest 
toned that I have ever witnessed." Fortunately we have outgrown that 
condition of society. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN Q. ADAMS— 1825-1829. 313 




advised the establishment of a national university and the 
creation of an astronomical observatory — " a lighthouse of 
the skies." Such words natural- 
ly antagonized many who were 
averse to such appropriations. 
Adams and others did not see the 
situation. They did not see that 
the old party was torn asunder, 
and that two new parties were 
at hand ; they considered the dif- 
fering factions as wings of the 
old Eepublican party. Except by 
making a clear statement of prin- 
ciples, nothing was done by the 
President to organize an Admin- 
istration party. The friends of 
liberal construction and of the tariff formed slowly around 
Clay as their leader, rather than around Adams, and began 
before 1828 to call themselves " National Republicans." 
The strict-constructionists called themselves Democratic 
Republicans, and before many years were commonly known 
as Democrats. 

Owing to a number of causes, a good many persons 

joined the party opposed to the Administration, not because 

they objected to internal improvements or like 

?®^^ ^ • ^' measures, but because they disliked Adams 

cnaractenstics. ' r i • • • 

and liked Jackson. So this party, which in- 
cluded the strict-constructionists, was for some time uncer- 
tain of its own policy. Indeed, the exact views of Jackson 
himself were uncertain. Through these years many persons 
summed up their political creed in the war-cry, " Hurrah 
for Jackson ! " and it proved in itself an unanswerable 
argument. And yet, although at first the party of opposi- 
tion, as sucli parties are apt to be, was somewhat uncertain 
in its beliefs and fundamental principles, and contained a 

number of incoherent elements, nevertheless the differing 
22 



314 HISTOE.Y OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

factions of tlie old Republican party were, before the next 
election, formed into parties, each with its own character- 
istics and natural tendencies. The Xational Republican 
party was similar in some respects to the old Federalists ; 
but it cast away, as unsuited to American politics, the 
exclusive, superior tone which had characterized the fol- 
lowers of Hamilton. The people at large were appealed to 
by both parties ; but the natural enthusiasm for Jackson, 
"the man of the people," called into the ranks of the 
opposition the masses of the people and made it a real 
democratic party. 

The times naturally called for opinion and action with 

regard to internal improvements. The rapid building up 

of the West increased rather than diminished 

Internal ^.j^^ demand for roads and other means of com- 

improvements. 

munication. A few years before this the State 
of New York had begun to make the Erie Canal, and in 
1825 it was finished. De Witt Clinton, for some years 
governor of the State, devoted himself earnestly to the 
undertaking, and the success of the enterprise was due to 
his untiring energy. The canal was first ridiculed as 
" Clinton's ditch," but the results justified the 
faith and the unflagging zeal of its advocates. 
The most enthusiastic person could scarcely have foreseen 
the influence of this canal on building up the commerce of 
New York city and enriching the State.* By means of it 
emigrants from the East found their way westward. The 
States and Territories of the Northwest grew rapidly in 
population, and poured their products back to the cities of 
the coast for consumption or transportation. " At this 
epoch," we are told, " the history of modern New York 
properly begins." From this time, too, the Northwest 
enters upon a new phase of its life. In 1826 there were 

* This canal, three hundred and sixty-three miles in length, con- 
necting the waters of Lake Erie with those of the Hudson, is still of 
great commercial value. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN Q. ADAMS— 1825-1829. 315 

no less than seven steamers on Lake Erie, and four 
years later a daily line was running between Detroit and 
Buffalo. 

Other States, moved by the enterprise of New York, 
were now eager for canals. All sorts of projects were in 
men's minds, and some of them were under- 
National aid for ^^j.gj^^ rj.j^gj,g ^^,^g naturally also a desire for 

improvements. _ y 

the assistance of the National Government, 
and somewhat liberal appropriations for internal improve- 
ments Avere given during this administration. But zeal for 
such national expenditure was partly sectional ; the South 
looked somewhat jealously upon the improvements which 
enriched the commercial States of the North. It is worthy 
of notice that the plan of appropriating money for the 
improvement of harbors was entered upon as early as 
1823. 

Another means of transportation than the slowly moving 
canal boat soon won and absorbed the attention of the 
people. Horse railroads had been in use for 
some little time, and various efforts had been 
made both in this country and in England to use steam as 
a motive force.* As early as 1814 George Stephenson, an 
Englishman, invented a "travelling engine," which he 
named " My Lord." Some years later (1825) the Stockton 
and Darlington Railway was opened, and Stephenson acted 
as engineer on a trial trip of his new locomotive. The suc- 
cess of this enterprise encouraged the building of the 
Liverpool and Manchester Railway. On this line (1829) 
Stephenson tried the Rocket, which sped away at the 
astounding pace of twenty-nine miles an hour. " Canal 
property is ruined," wrote a correspondent from London ; 

* The earliest roads were built with wooden rails, and afterward these 
were covered with bands or strips of iron. Horses furnished the motive 
power. The first road of this kind seems to have been built as early as 
1807, in Boston. The first steam locomotive used in this country was 
brought from England in 1829, and was called the " Stourbridge Lion." 



316 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



" in fact they are even anticipating that it may be necessary 
to let the canals dry and to lay rails on them." 

Meantime inventors and capitalists were at work in 
America. Indeed, the success of the Stockton and Darling- 
ton Railway seems to have produced a greater 
impression on this side of the water than in 
England. New York was already reaping the 
benefit of the Erie Canal, but the cities farther south were 
still without easy means of communication with the West. 
Both Baltimore and Philadelphia seem to have felt the loss 

BOSTON AND WORCESTER RAIL ROAD 1 



Railroads in 
America. 




THE Passenger Cars will continue to run daily from ihe 
Drpol near Washington street, to Newton, al 6 and 
10 o'clock, A.M. and Pt 3» o'clock, P. M- and 

Returning, leave Newton a* 7 and a quarter past II, A.M. 
and a q\iarier before 5, P.M. 

Tickets for the passag-e either way may be had at the 
Ticket Office, No.(*l7, Washington street ; price 3ii cents 
each ;fttid ibr the return passage, of the Master of the CatJ, 
Newton. 

By order ofthe President and Directors. 

a 29 epistf F. A WILLIAMS. Clerk. 



Advertisement of the First Passenger Train in Massachusetts, 

May, 1834. 

of Western trade, which was now deflected to New York. 
A railroad was determined upon, and in 1827 a charter 
was issued to the Baltimore and Ohio road. July 4, 1828, 
work was actually begun, the first act being done by Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton, the only living signer of the Declara- 
tion of Independence. He is said to have exclaimed : " I 
consider this among the most important acts of my life, 
second ^y to that of signing the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, if second to that." Two years later a short 
section of this road was opened for traffic. In South Caro- 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN Q. ADAMS-1825-18Sd. 317 

lina, too, a road was built running from Charleston to Ham- 
burg, and in 1833 this road was one hundred and thirty-five 
miles in length, then the longest road in the world.* 

In 1840 there were two thousand eight hundred and 
eighteen miles of railroad in operation, and as the years 
went by the mileage increased. But no one in those early 
years could foresee the immense development of railroads, 
and the great changes they were to make in the life of the 
nation. The first lines connected neighboring cities, or 
furnished outlets from the coal regions to the sea ; but in 
time the long trunk lines were constructed, stretching 
across the country, binding the land together into an in- 
dustrial unit. Wherever men are gathered together, there 
the railroad now goes to serve them, ready to carry the 
products of their toil to market and to bring back what 
they wish in exchange, f 

The political significance of the railroad was almost as 

great as its social and industrial significance. The East 

and West were made one ; the strong ties of 

The political commercial interest and the fellowship of 

significance. ... 

social communication bound the States of the 
coast to their younger sisters of the Mississippi Valley. 
The old saying that a free government could not exist 
over a wide expanse of territory was bereft of meaning, for, 
as the railroads were built into the West, Michigan and 
Illinois became the next-door neighbors of Massachusetts 
and Connecticut. 

For some years Georgia had been anxious to get posses- 
sion of the land of the Creek and Cherokee Indians within 
the limits of that State. These tribes were already civil- 
ized. The Cherokees especially were well advanced. They 
had churches, schools, and courts of law, and had well- 

* Interesting data are given in Encyclopaedia Americana, vol. iv, 
p. 296. 

f An admirable short essay on the railroads and their functions in 
Shaler's The United States of America, vol. ii, pp. 65-131. 



318 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

tilled fields and comfortable homes. The presence of such 
independent bodies within the State, not subject to its 

laws, was unnatural. Georgia desired the In- 
SiTlndians^ <^^^^^' lands, and was not willing to wait. 

She demanded the immediate removal of the 
tribes beyond the Mississippi. A treaty was made by 
the National Government providing for the sale of most 
of the land of the Creeks. But Georgia would not wait 
until the time came for carrying out the treaty. State 
surveyors were ordered into the territory of the Creeks. 
The President forbade the survey.* At first the State 
obeyed, but finally became very impatient. The Governor 
announced the doctrine of State sovereignty, and asserted 
that the State had an equal authority with the United 
States " to pass upon its rights." Adams was prepared to 
protect the Indians in their property, and ordered the 
United States District Attorney and the marshal to arrest 
any one endeavoring to survey the Indian lands west of a 
certain line. The Governor prepared for resistance, and 
ordered the militia oflicers of the State to be in readiness 
with their forces to repel invasion. The majority in Con- 
gress were opposed to Adams and did not wish to support 
him, and he hesitated, naturally, to bring on civil war on 
such an issue. The Creeks were soon compelled to leave 
their lands. About the same time encroachments were 
made upon the Cherokee territory, and the final outcome 
was much the same as in the case of the Creeks. Georgia 
successfully maintained her " sovereignty." f 

* Indian affairs have always been under the control of the Federal 
Government. Congress is given power to regulate commerce with 
Indian tribes. See Constitution, art. i, sec. vii, §3. Moreover, the 
Creeks and the Federal Government had entered into treaties. 

f This trouble with Georgia has its political significance in the fact 
that the State maintained, in some measure, its authority against the 
Government. It is also significant as an episode in the process of 
transferring the Indians to reservations in the West. The plan of 
confining them to reservations was fully carried out in the course of the 



ADMINISTRATION" OF JOHN Q. ADAMS-1825-1829. 319 



The tariff of 
1828. 



The manufacturing interests of the Northern States were 
rapidly growing through these years ; but in some respects, 
especially in the making of woolen goods, Eng- 
lish factories seemed to have the advantage. 
There was a demand by the manufacturers for 
a higher tariff and more protection. In 1828 a bill for the 
purpose was introduced. All the interests of the country 
began at once to push and scramble for recognition. The 
result was what is commonly known as the " tariff of abom- 
inations." It was an "economic monstrosity." The rate 
of duty on many articles, 
including raw materials 
for manufactures, was 
very high. So much had 
the coming presidential 
election been kept in 
view, that John Ean- 
dolph declared in a bit- 
ing phrase, *' The bill re- 
ferred to manufactures 
of no sort or kind ex- 
cept the manufacture of 
a President of the United 
States." 

The South had now 




become bitterly opposed to a tariff. It seemed to enrich 
the Northerner, and to make the Southerner pay an en- 
hanced price for all the goods which he 
?o°t?etarT*^ bought. There were at the South no fac- 
tories, or nearly none ; the people therefore 
did not seek protection. Randolph said that the bill was 
intended "to rob and plunder one half of the Union 

century. During Jaclison's administration the Cherokee lands were 
occupied, and Georgia successfully opposed the authority of the Federal 
court. See Schouler, History, vol. iv, pp. 233-235 ; Sumner, Andrew- 
Jackson, pp. 180-183. 



320 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

for the benefit of the residue." South Carolina protested 
against the law, asserting that it was unconstitutional, 
and an abuse of power incompatible with free govern- 
ment. " The interests of South Carolina," she said, " are 
agricultural, and to cut off her foreign market and to 
confine her products to an inadequate home market is to 
reduce her to poverty." The defenders of the American 
system argued that the South derived a benefit from the 
fact that the tariif made a home market, and thus brought 
a market nearer to the cotton States, and therefore increased 
the price of cotton. But the planters did not admit the 
truth or force of this argument. 

Because of the President's advocacy of internal improve- 
ments, and because of the passage of the tariff bill, for 

which the National Eepublicans were largely 
^nff^^^^^ responsible, a strong and united opposition was 

formed against Adams before the end of his 
administration. The South was a unit against him, and 
the foes of internal improvements at the North were op- 
posed to his policy. Moreover, Jackson was everywhere 
hailed as the people's friend, the man of the common 
people, while Adams was denounced as an aristocrat, who 
felt himself above the ordinary man. There was an out- 
burst of popular enthusiasm for the " hero of New Orleans." 
Now it must be noted that since the beginning of the Gov- 
ernment the high offices of state had been in the hands of 
trained statesmen, and the presidency had been given to 
men of learning and experience. But in 1828 the people 
had grown confident — overconfident — and ready to resent 
the insinuation that they needed educated or experienced 
statesmen to lead them or show them the way. The West, 
which was enthusiastic for Jackson, was accustomed to give 
its allegiance to a downright forcible character like " Old 
Hickory," who had succeeded in what he, had undertaken, 
and had whipped the British and the Indians with equal 
thoroughness and skill. And so Adams found himself the 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN Q. ADAMS— 1825-1829. 321 

candidate of the North and East, and defended by the 
more conservative elements of society, who dreaded what 
they considered a democratic upheaval, and feared the 
election of a new and untried man to the presidency. 
Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, was the candidate of the 
National Republicans for Vice-President. Calhoun held 
second place on the Jackson ticket. Jackson received one 
hundred and seventy-eight electoral votes, while Adams re- 
ceived only eighty-three. The popular vote of the National 
Republicans was large, however, and this showed that a 
strong conservative party was in existence. 

References. 

Short accounts : Hart, The Formation of the Union, pp. 245- 
262 ; Schurz, Henry Clay, Volume I, Chapter XI ; Morse, J. Q. 
Adams, pp. 189-225; Burgess, Middle Period, pp. 145-166. Longer 
accounts : Schouler, History, Volume III, pp. 336-449 ; Turner, The 
Rise of the New "West. 




Marietta, Ohio, in Early Days. 
The picture ilhistrates the manner in which many of the principal cities 
in Ohio and the West began. From au old drawing now preserved in 
Columbus, Ohio. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Democracy and Slavery — Industrial and Economic Contro- 
versies—The Annexation of Texas— 1829-1845. 



Andrew 
Jackson 



ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON— 1829-1837. 

Ai^DEEW Jacksoi^ is one of the most striking figures in 
American history, and few persons have played a more im- 
portant part. He was born in South Carolina 
in 1767, of sturdy Scotch-Irish stock. When 
he was twenty-one he moved to Nashville. He 
studied law, and when Tennessee was admitted to the 
Union he became the first representative from the State 

in Congress. Soon afterwards 
he became Senator, but held 
the position only a short time. 
" When I was President of 
the Senate," wrote Jefierson 
at a later time, "he was a 
Senator, and he could never 
speak on account of the rash- 
ness of his feelings. I have 
seen him attempt it repeat- 
edly, and as often choke with 
rage." Until the outbreak 
of the War of 1812 Jackson 
was most of the time in pri- 
vate life, not in public office. 
His surroundings were those 
of a rough frontier community, and we read of his taking 
part in duels and quarrels that were typical of the crude 




'^-^2l£6±^,/a<^ 



f^y^^ 



ADMINISTRATION OP JACKSON— 1839-1887. 323 

life of the young and energetic Southwest of those days. 
For it can not be denied that, with much that was sound 
and wholesome, there was a good deal that was rude and 
boisterous in the life of these new States beyond the moun- 
tains. Jackson, in his downrightness and uprightness, in 
his promptness to resent an insult and to fight in obedience 
to the code of honor, was a true son of his surroundings. 
His early career taught him to love his friends and to hate 
his enemies. He was strong and willful and full of energy, 
but his powers were undisciplined. In the War of 1812 he 
fought with characteristic bravery and energy, showing 
many of the qualities of skillful generalship. In the Semi- 
nole War (1818-'19) he crushed the hostile Indians of the 
South and Avon new renown. He was a man of perfect hon- 
esty, and his motives were good ; he had a warm heart, a 
quick temper, and undoubted ability ; he had the faculty of 
winning men and of making them love him. The coun- 
selors and friends that surrounded him when he was Presi- 
dent never hid him from view ; he stood always clearly out 
before the people. His greatest weakness lay in the fact 
that designing men, his friends, could play upon his preju- 
dices, and through his iron will accomplish their own objects. 
Jackson was elected in 1828 because he was looked 
upon as a candidate of the common people, while Adams 

was declared to be an aristocrat without sym- 
hifdectron.°^ pathy for the masses; it was said, too, that 

Jackson had been defrauded of his just rights 
in 1824. His election marks an era in our politics for 
many reasons. He was the first man chosen from the new 
West. He was the first man elected President who had 
not already acquired wide knowledge and experience in 
public affairs. The election of this self-made man, who 
was put forward as " a man of the people," shows that in 
the development of American life the people had reached 
a stage of self-confidence and assertion ; they felt no need 
of trained experts in statesmanship ; they desired only some 



324 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

one who would fulfill their behests. Perhaps they were 
overconfident, and there was certainly something wrong in 
their antagonism to an experienced man like Adams on the 
ground that he was an aristocrat, for it is not undemocratic 
to place in public office the best of trained servants ; but, 
nevertheless, in the growth of a popular state like the 
United States it is only reasonable to expect that the peo- 
ple will come to see their power and use it ; and only when 
they know their power can they feel the full responsibili- 
ties of citizenship. 

Up to the time of Jackson's accession to the presidency 

national office-holders were removed only for inefficiency or 

dishonesty. Adams removed only two men in 

The spoils j-^jg ^hoie term, and these not for political rea- 

systenii 

sons. Although a strong party was arrayed 

against him, he refused to use public office to reward his 
friends. Now, Jackson was fully persuaded that the office- 
holders who had held their places under Adams were a cor- 
rupt lot, for by temperament he looked upon all who were 
not his friends as his enemies, and, moreover, he believed 
that the Adams administration was begotten by fraud, and 
that none who participated in it merited consideration. In 
some of the States the. practice of using public office as a 
reward to political friends was already fully established. 
Influenced by men that had been used to this practice, and 
hearing the outcry against aristocratic office-holders, Jack- 
son began the removal of men who were opposed to him in 
politics and filled their places with his followers.* Thus 
was introduced into the national administration the " spoils 
system," f in accordance with which a person was given 

* There were more men removed from office in the first few months 
of Jackson's administration than in the forty years preceding. 

f These words seem to have been adopted from a speech made by 
W. L. Marcy in the Senate in 1831. " It may be, sir, that the poli- 
ticians of New York are not so fastidious as some gentlemen are as to 
disclosing the principles on which they act. . . . They see nothing 
wrong in the rule that to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy." 



ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 325 

employment in the public service not because he was com- 
petent and trained for his duties, but because he was a 
faithful partisan. Jackson was honest and patriotic, but 
he was instrumental in establishing this system, which has 
had a most harmful influence upon the character of our 
national politics. 

Jackson's first Cabinet was not composed of men of 
wide experience or of great ability. Martin Van Buren, 
the Secretary of State, was probably the ablest member. 
He had for some years been a prominent figure in the poli- 
tics of New York. He was shrewd and keen, and a good 
manager of men ; his enemies considered him underhanded 
and dishonest, but he was by no means devoid of states- 
manship. In 1831 Jackson reorganized his Cabinet. Van 
Buren was appointed minister to England, but the Senate 
refused to confirm the nomination. This was considered 
a piece of spite, and helped rather than hurt his political 
prospects. The new Cabinet was abler than the preceding. 
Edward Livingston became Secretary of State ; Louis Mc- 
Larie, Secretary of the Treasury ; Lewis Cass, Secretary of 
War ; Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Navy ; Roger B. 
Taney, Attorney-General. These were all men of strong 
character. They represented the organizing forces of the 
new Democratic party. Some of them were for many years 
prominent and influential men in the nation. 

Hardly had the tariff of 1828 been passed when some of 
the Southern States began to show their strong dislike of 
the protective system. South Carolina was 
Calhoun foremost in opposition, and John 0. Calhoun 

was her leader and guide. Calhoun had drifted 
wide from the position he held after the War of 1812, when 
he advocated a broad national policy. He now stood forth as 
the champion of State sovereignty, and devoted himself to 
a defense of sectional interests. Slavery had made the 
South peculiar. What was good policy for the North with 
diversified industries, might be injurious to the South with 



326 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 




one dominating industry. Calhoun, a clear, incisive speaker 
and acute reasoner, claimed that the Government had no 
authority to pass laws that were harmful to a State or sec- 
tion. He drew up a careful 
statement of his constitu- 
tional theories, asserting that 
each State was wholly sov- 



ereign, and the Constitu- 
tion only an agreement or 
compact between sovereign 
States; he announced, like- 
wise, the doctrine of nulli- 
fication. State sovereignty 
meant this : that each State 
of the Union was not sub- 
ject to the Constitution as 
a superior law^ but retained 
the right to govern itself 
wholly if it so preferred. 
From State sovereignty came 
the right of secession ; each State had the right to interpret 
the Constitution for itself, and, if it chose, to withdraw from 
the Union on the ground that the agreement 
or treaty (the Constitution) had been broken, 
or on the ground that its interests were no longer furthered. 
In accordance with this theory, the relations between the 
various States were Just the same as they would be between 
France, England, and Spain if they should enter into a 
treaty establishing a central agent to which certain powers 
of government should be given for certain purposes ; each 
of the three States would retain its full sov- 
^^J . ereign character, and would have the right 

to withdraw from association with the others 
when it chose. Nullification meant the right of a State 
to declare null and void any act of the Federal Govern- 
ment which it considered a breach of the compact (the Con- 



c::^^-'^--^^ <ii-<;^^ 



ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 



327 



The great 
debate, 



stitution), and to resist the enforcement of such act within 
its limits.* 

In 1830 Senator Hayne, of South Carolina, gave utter- 
ance to these theories in the Senate. He was a man of 
strong parts, and his presentation of Calhoun's 
theories was forcible. Daniel Webster an- 
swered him in a great speech, which stands to- 
day unsurpassed in the annals of American oratory. Web- 
ster Avas then at the height of his intellectual vigor. His 
eloquence was pure and great. 
No orator that has ever spoken 
the English tongue has ex- 
celled him in the beauty, force, 
and appropriateness of lan- 
guage. He maintained, in re- 
ply to Hayne, that the Con- 
stitution was a law, and not a 
mere agreement ; that it had 
the force of law, and was bind- 
ing on each and every State ; 
and that each State could not 
at will interpret the Constitu- 
tion to suit its interests. He 
pointed out that nullification 
must be only interstate anar- 
chy. The speech made a deep impression on the people 
of the country, for it harmonized well with the predominat- 




Q-^^ ^^^^^ 



* Under this theory of Calhoun, a State would nullify while it re- 
mained in the Union, but secession would follow in case the obnoxious 
laws were enforced against its will. " Should the other members," 
wrote Calhoun, " undertake to grant the power nullified, and should the 
nature ... be such as to defeat the object of the . . . Union, at least so far 
as the member nullifying is concerned, it would then become an abuse 
of power on the part of the principals [the other States], and thus pre- 
sent a case where secession would apply." Between 1828 and 1832 
Calhoun fully outlined the whole logical basis of secession. Nothing 
needf^d to be added in 1861. Read Johnston, Am. Orations, vol. iii, p. 321. 



328 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

ing sentiment at the North. This was long known as " the 
great debate " in the Senate. 

But Calhoun's doctrines were to be more forcibly de- 
picted than by mere oratory. In 1832 a new tariff act was 
passed. This was more moderate than the one 
NnUification m ^f f^^^ ^g^^g i3efore, but South Carolina pre- 
pared to protest directly against it. Under the 
direction of Calhoun the steps for nullification were taken. 
A convention of the people declared the tariff law null and 
void, forbade its execution within the State, and threatened 
secession from the Union if there should be an effort to 
enforce it. This was November, 1832. The Ordinance of 
Nullification was to go into force February 1, 1833. 

On December 11th Jackson issued his famous proclama- 
tion addressed to the people of South Carolina. It was 
full of fire and vigor. It was at once strong, 

Jackson's reasonable, and gentle. " The laws of the 

proclamation. ' ° 

United States must be executed, he said. 

" Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent 
their execution deceived you. . . . Their object is disunion, 
and disunion by armed force is treason." The people of 
the United States owe Jackson a deep debt of gratitude. 
His name — a name of power for many years to come — was 
joined with the idea of union and the supremacy of the 
Constitution. But he did more than issue a proclama- 
tion : he made preparation to enforce the law. 

Calhoun resigned the vice-presidency, and was elected 
Senator from his State. In the winter a tariff bill, called 
the Compromise Tariff of 1833, was passed, 
ompromises. r£]^[Q provided for a gradual lowering of the 
duties. Clay was instrumental in bringing about the com- 
promise. At the same time an act was passed known as 
the " force bill." It gave the President means of enfor- 
cing the law. Thus were presented to South Carolina " the 
rod and the olive branch bound up together." South Caro- 
lina repealed the nullification ordinance, thus accepting 



ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 329 

the olive branch, while she ignored the threatening rod. 
Danger of war or secession was, for the time being, gone. 

Through the summer of 1832 a contest of another sort 

had been in progress, a struggle between the friends and 

the opponents of the Bank of the United 

Tli6 bank 

States. From the beginning of Jackson's ad- 
ministration the bank had been more or less under fire. 
Jackson himself may be supposed to have had a natural 
objection to it, although he does not seem to have been 
anxious to attack it until it was hinted to him that the 
institution was using its power for political purposes against 
the Administration. This was doubtless not true at first. 
But Jackson in various messages to Congress hinted at the 
dangers of such a moneyed organization and the unconsti- 
tutionality of the charter. The National Eepublicans, led 
by Clay, believed that the bank was useful and desirable, 
and thought that the people at large felt the same way 
about it. In 1832, though the charter did not expire till 
four years later,* a bill was passed by Congress granting a 
new charter. Jackson vetoed the bill on the ground of un- 
constitutionality, and for other reasons. 

" Bank or no bank " was one of the chief issues of the 
presidential campaign of that year. Jackson had appealed 
to a wide public sentiment when he objected 
ne bank in ^^ what he considered a great national monop- 
oly, and he strengthened his case in some quar- 
ters by urging that the bank was a machine for making the 
rich richer and the poor poorer. Although it had not be- 
fore been active in politics, it seems that under strong 
temptation the bank did in this election endeavor to influ- 
ence public opinion. It did nothing, probably, that merits 
the charge of corruption, but deep hostility was engendered 
by its acts, and it is possible that its conduct pointed to a 
real and serious danger. sy' 

* The bank, it will be remembered, obtained a charter in 1816, good 
for twenty years. 
23 



330 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

For the election of 1832 candidates were presented in a 
novel way. National conventions now assembled for the 
jj . . purpose of making nominations. At this time 

Convention, there was a new organization known as the 
l83i-'32. Anti-Masonic party. The formation of this 

party was due to the existence of a strong feeling against 
the Masons, who were charged with the abduction and 
murder of one William Morgan, a member of the order who 
had threatened to disclose its secrets, In 1831 this party 
held a national convention and nominated William Wirt 
for the presidency. This method was followed by the 
other parties. The Democrats nominated Jackson and 
Van Buren ; the l^ational Republicans nominated Clay and 
John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania. 

Clay was a natural choice of his party. To a great ex- 
tent it had formed under his leadership, and he represented 
its chief aims. He had introduced and de- 
*^ fended the American system. He had been 

consistently in favor of internal improvements, and in 
other respects stood for a very broad and liberal national 
policy. He was a natural leader. Men felt the spell of his 
eloquence. Though not so keen as Calhoun, nor so pro- 
found as Webster, he had the faculty of inspiring his hear- 
ers by his fervid appeals and filling them with his own 
enthusiasm. Spite of Clay's wide popularity, he was badly 
beaten in the election. Before the end of 
and the Whig another presidential term his followers took the 
name of Whigs. The name itself, recalling the 
popular one by which the patriots of the Revolution were 
known, implied that Jackson's methods " were high-handed 
and tyrannical." * 

Jackson now felt himself fully sustained in his attitude 
toward the bank. In the summer of 1833 he proceeded to 
make another attack upon it. The charter declared that 

* Jackson's administration is sometimes called the " reign of An- 
drew Jackson." 



ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 331 

the public money was to be deposited in the bank " unless 
the Secretary of the Treasury shall at any time other- 
wise order and direct, in which case he shall 
Removal of immediately lay before Congress . . . the 
reason of such order or direction." Jackson 
determined to remove the deposits. In order to accom- 
plish this he needed to make some changes in his Cabinet. 
He first appointed William J. Duane Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, but the new secretary refused to take the necessary 
action ; whereupon Jackson dismissed him, and appointed 
Roger B. Taney, who did as desired, and issued an order 
that the public money should no longer be placed in the 
bank. This was called a removal of the deposits. In 
reality the Government simply ceased to deposit its money 
in the bank, and did not at once draw out all the money 
it had there. The Government funds were thereafter 
placed in banks acting under State charters. Those that 
were selected for this purpose were called "pet banks." 
The hope of having part of the public money for use en- 
couraged bankmaking, and the number of State banks rap- 
idly increased. 

Jackson was sharply attacked by the Whigs for his 
assault upon the bank, and a resolution of censure was 
™ , spread upon the records of the Senate. Thomas 

Tne censure and r r 

the expunging H. Benton, of Missouri, gave notice that he 
resolution. would each session, until he succeeded in his 

efforts, introduce a resolution to erase the resolution from 
the record. After three years his famous " expunging reso- 
lution " was adopted. 

These years were full of business zest and enterprise. 
The whole country was in a state of great prosperity, but 

men were rapidly losing their heads in their 
Distribution of ^^,^^^^^ ^f immediate riches. One source of 
surplus revenuei 

speculation was the Western lands. State banks 

grew rapidly in number and issued their promises to pay by 
the handful. These notes were taken by the Government 



332 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

in exchange for wild lands, and because of this and other 
sources of income the Treasury was well filled. The States 
were now eagerly engaged in building railroads, and full of 
zeal for all sorts of internal improvement. It was proposed 
to distribute among the States the surplus revenue belong- 
ing to the National Government. A bill for that purpose 
was passed in 1836. The money was to be given out in four 
quarterly installments, beginning January 1, 1837. Three 
payments were made, amounting in all to about $28,000,000. 
Before the fourth installment was due the Government had 
no more money to give away. This distribution was on the 
face of the law only a loan ; really it was looked upon as a 
gift. The money so distributed has not been repaid. It 
did the States little good, and probably in most instances 
did harm, encouraging wild plans of internal improvement, 
for many of which there was no real demand. 

Before the end of Jackson's term he caused to be issued 
the "specie circular," an order directing that only gold 

and silver and so-called land scrip should be 
drcidar^^ received in payment for lands. This brought 

the speculators and wild enthusiasts face to 
face with facts, and soon made clear to them that promises 
to pay money were not money, and that making plans of 
cities on the Western prairies did not materially add to the 
wealth of the nation. 

Before passing on to further consideration of the effects 
of the specie circular and the results of rash speculation, 

let us consider the industrial and social con- 
Utoaw ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ United States in this decade of 

our history. In every way the people seemed 
alert and full of vigor. American literature was entering 
upon a new and brilliant career. Washington Irving had 
already achieved fame by his chaste and picturesque tales 
and sketches. Cooper was writing his novels of the sea and 
wilderness, and Poe was beginning to give out his weird 
stories and his pure and delicate verses. Hawthorne, born 



ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 333 

in Salem, in the very midst of Puritan tradition, was start- 
ing upon liis career as the romancer of mystery and of Puri- 
tanic faith and superstition. His terse, simple, harmoni- 
ous style pT-oved that clear and sweet English prose could 
be written outside the British Isles. Emerson was just 
beginning his essays on the homely practical philosophy of 
life, and Longfellow the finely finished poems that have 
placed him at the head of American poets. In oratory the 
Americans easily outstripped any English competitors of 
that generation. Webster's speeches were great and pure 
and simple ; Edward Everett uttered polished periods, 
turned and fitted with delicate care. Clay's fiery eloquence 
and Calhoun's cold reasoning always had something artistic 
about them. In the writing of history, too, American 
authors were showing talent. Bancroft began the pub- 
Jication of his great work, the final revision of which 
did not appear until forty years later. Prescott published 
in 1838 his Ferdinand and Isabella, the earliest of his 
charming volumes on Spain and the Spaniards of the New 
World. 

The American inventive spirit, which had showed itself 
in the invention of the cotton gin and the steamboat, was 
rt . , , now manifest in many new labor-savinsr de- 

Open-minded- . -^ o 

ness and vices. One was the McCormick reaper, another 

progress. ^j^g steam hammer. Friction matches were 

coming into use. In 1838 steamboats began to make trips 
across the Atlantic. About the same time the process of 
smelting iron with anthracite coal and the hot-air blast 
was put into successful operation, the beginning of that 
great industry in the United States. This country offered 
a welcome asylum for men of energy or of inventive power, 
for no device was rejected because of its novelty. This 
same open-mindedness and eagerness for progress showed 
itself in the establishment of new wide-awake newspapers. 
More important still, the public-school system was widened 
and popularized. 



334 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

The Jacksonian era was a time when great characteristics 

of the nineteenth century seemed to burst forth into view. 

. . The intensity of national life seemed to show 

Cnaractenstios . ,„„ » ■•> lui t n 

of the nine- itself free from restramt, and although there 
teenth centnry. ^^^g doubtless a fantastic extravagance, in these 
very exaggerations one can see with special clearness cer- 
tain qualities that mark the line of growth along which the 
nation was moving. The development of the public-school 
system came doubtless from a feeling of public duty, from 
a realization of the essential unity of the people, and from 
a comprehension of the fact that a democratic government 
was safe only in the hands of an educated people. But 
while the century has been marked by the growth of knowl- 
edge and by the popularizing of education, it has been 
marked still more, perhaps, by the widening and deepening 
of human sympathy and feeling. The foundation of the 
great missionary societies, five of which were established 
between 1830 and 1840, is an important evidence of this de- 
velopment of generous feeling for others. And as there 
grew up in men's minds a fuller appreciation of their rela- 
tion to their fellows, they showed this appreciation in great 
social movements, in works of generosity and charity. One 
might expect that men in democratic America would mani- 
fest more clearly than the people of Europe this sentiment 
of humanity and this appreciation of the common interests 
of men ; and such was probably the case ; but everywhere 
in Europe, too, during the fourth and fifth decades of the 
century, there appeared these waves of social sentiment, 
all marking the great movement of society, and, if they 
were extreme or extravagant at the time, they are none the 
less proofs of the great motive force of the century. " We 
are a little wild here," wrote Emerson from Boston, " with 
numberless projects of social reform; not a leading man 
but has a draft of a new community in his waistcoat 
pocket." The impulse for temperance reform which swept 
over the country, and the abolition movement, which 



ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 335 

we shall soon study, were manifestations of this new social 
conscience. " A great wave of humanity, of benevolence, 
of desire for improvement, poured itself among all who 
had the faculty of large and disinterested thinking." * 

The democratic spirit, which we have seen in the politi- 
cal life of the country, prevailed in society. The election 
of Jackson simply heralded the fact that the 
emocracy. people felt their power, and that they had 
reached their majority. Social distinctions had now van- 
ished or were of little moment. Success in life, not one's 
ancestry or supposed position, was given deference and re- 
spect. Little honor was shown to assumed superiority. A 
feeling of self-confidence prevailed, and a spirit of boastful- 
ness was not lacking ; for men prided themselves on the 
fact that the United States, in advance of the world, was 
giving an example of popular government, and they de- 
clared their country to be the freest and best on earth. 
Spite of self-assertion and vainglory, there was much that 
was sound and good in this democratic spirit ; the people 
rudely made real the truth that "worth makes the man, 
and want of it the fellow " — the true motto of true de- 
mocracy. Men were hard at work, for work was no dis- 
grace in this new country ; they eagerly sought after 
money, not for its own sake, but for what it would bring. 
Work was the common lot of all men ; and v/here that is 
the case democratic equality has its surest foundation.! ^' 

One is not mistaken in attributing this development of 
religious, moral, and mental freedom and strength, in part 
at least, to democratic institutions, to the fact that in 
America each man was given responsibilities, and taught 
by the force of circumstances, by his duties, by the very 

* These words are used of the situation in England in J. Morley, 
The Life of Richard Cobden, p. 61. See also Hinsdale, Horace Mann, 
p. 73. 

f The society in America is discussed in Schouler, History, vol. ii, 
chap, viii (1809), and vol. iv, chap, xiii (1831). 



336 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

political theory of the commonwealth, to think for himself 

and to strive for personal uplift. Out of this feeling of 

personal responsibility and power have come 

Democracy and ^^le successful establishment and maintenance 

human progress. -, r^i -, 

of the Church and other religious institutions 
upon a perfectly free and voluntary system, without the au- 
thority or interference of the Government ; the building up 
of the great free-school system, of which we have spoken ; 
and the endowment of higher institutions of learning, 
libraries, and museums by the State as well as by private 
generosity. All of these result from the free and unre- 
strained desire of an intelligent public. We may well stop 
to consider these facts while w^e are discussing these pro- 
foundly interesting times, when Andrew Jackson, "the 
man of the people," was President, and when in countless 
ways energetic men, realizing in some measure the heritage 
of a great country and a free government, were pushing 
boldly and enthusiastically forward in the pursuit of wealth 
and moral and intellectual ideals. 

Until the end of Jackson's administration the country 
grew with astounding rapidity. The seacoast towns no 
longer looked like country villages, but had put 
on the airs of populous cities. Emigrants from 
Europe came in increasing numbers, many of them staying 
in the ports where they landed, others moving to the new 
West. The Western States and Territories grew at a marvel- 
ous rate. Arkansas and Michigan were admitted as States 
(1836 and 1837). Ohio increased her population in the dec- 
ade (1830-'40) from about 900,000 to 1,500,000, or over 62 
per cent. The population of Illinois increased 202 per 
cent ; of Michigan, 570 per cent ; of Mississippi, 175 per 
cent ; other States of the Mississippi Valley advanced 
almost as rapidly, and even the Territories were filling 
with sturdy settlers. Chicago in 1830 was but a rude 
frontier post, a mere cluster of houses ; before 1840 it was 
a prosperous town, with lines of steamers connecting it 



ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 



337 



with the East, and was already the center of the newest 
West. 

There seem to have been less than thirty miles of rail- 
road in the country in 1830 ; in 1840 there were not far from 
three thousand. It is no wonder that men were 
Internal induced to build air castles, or that they ex- 

improvementa. ' "^ 

pected to see the Western wilderness conquered 
in a day. Some of the States planned great railroad and 
canal systems, and, wild with schemes of internal improve- 
ment, plunged rashly into debt. Michigan, for example, en- 




Map showing Distribution of Population in 1840. 

tered upon the task of building three railroads across the 
State, voted sums for the survey of canals, and authorized 
the Governor to borrow five million dollars to defray the ex- 
penses of such undertakings. Individuals as well as States 
discounted the future, expecting almost immediate wealth 
as a result of investments. 

As we have already seen, the purchase of wild lands 
from the Government was an especially attractive form 
of speculation. Men seem actually to have thought that 
lands purchased at 11.25 an acre would in a few days or 



338 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

months be worth much more on the market, although the 
Government had a great deal more land to sell at the old 
figure. Indeed, at times these speculations were 
pS^laiTs?'' profitable, for the nation was buoyed up with 
hope and with visions of unbounded prosperity. 
Sales of Government lands rose from about two and a half 
million dollars in 1832 to over twenty-four million dollars in 
1836. Everywhere in the last years of Jackson's term 
appeared enthusiasm in business enterprise and a tendency 
to bold speculation. Much of this was healthy vigor, for 
the country was growing, and its growth was due to zealous 
work. But thrift had been displaced by greed for immedi- 
ate riches, and the result was sure to be disappointment, if 
not disaster. Few saw, when Jackson left office in 1837, 
that the storm was ready to break. 

For the election of 1836 the Democrats nominated Martin 
Van Buren for President, and Eichard M. Johnson, of Ken- 
tucky, for Vice-President. The Whigs nomi- 
of 1836!*^°^ nated General William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, 
the hero of Tippecanoe, for the presidency, and 
Francis Granger, of New York, for the vice-presidency.* 
Other candidates were presented by State legislatures, and 
it was thought the result might be to throw the election 
into the House of Eepresentatives. The issues of the cam- 
paign were not very distinct, and yet the two leading candi- 
dates showed a clear difference of opinion on matters that 
were agitating the public mind. Harrison declared in favor 
of the distribution of the surplus revenue among the States, 
a like distribution of the proceeds from sale of public lands, 
the appropriation of money for river and harbor improve- 
ment, and the granting of another bank charter. Van 
Buren opposed all these measures. The Democrats were 
successful in the election. 



* The nomination of Harrison and Granger was not made by a 
formal national convention. 



ADMINISTRATION OF VAN BUREN— 1837-1841. 339 



Keferences. 

Short accounts : Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 2-93 ; Roose- 
velt, Benton, pp. 68-156; Channing, United States of America, pp. 
208-233; Brown, Andrew Jackson; Lodge, Daniel Webster, Chap- 
ter VII; Von Hoist, Calhoun, pp. 63-183; McLaughlin, Lewis Cass, 
Chapter V. Longer accounts: Schurz, Clay, I, pp. 311-383, II, pp. 
1-112; Schouler, History, HI, pp. 451-529, IV, pp. 1-273 ; McDonald, 
Jacksonian Democracy. 



ADMINISTRATION OP MARTIN VAN BUREN-1837-1841. 

Martin Van Biiren had been somewhat prominent in 
political life for twenty years before his accession to the 
presidency. He had been senator from New York, and 
Vice-President of the United States. He was a politician 
of great adroitness, and so clever in political management 
that he had won the title of the " Little Magician." He 
was a polished, polite, good-natured man, never giving way 
to excitement or to appearance of anger. His cool suavity 
was attributed by his enemies to a designing disposition, 
his politeness to a capacity for deceit. His life does not 
show, however, that he was devoid of either ability or prin- 
ciple. He performed his presidential duties well. His term 
v,^as full of trouble and anxiety, but he showed good judg- 
ment and discretion in meeting the trying problems that 
confronted him. 

He entered upon the office with an inaugural address, 

congratulating the people on "an aggregate of human 

prosperity not elsewhere to be found ; on pos- 

His inaugural. . , j. j. • • 

sessmg a popular government, wanting m no 
element of endurance or strength." Such statements were 
characteristic of the times. The people were elated, and 
wont to praise their own lot. But now a period of distress 
and want was close upon them. 

Some slight indications had already been given that the 
country was on the eve of business disaster. It was awak- 



310 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

ening with a shock from the prolonged fit of intoxication 
over American success and growth. In the winter before 

the inauguration a large gathering was held in 
1837^°^° '^ ^®^ Y^^^ i^ response to a call headed " Bread, 

meat, rent, fuel ! Their prices must come 
down ! " The meeting was followed by a riot. Abroad, 
too, there was business depression. April 10, 1837, the 
London Times said that great distress and pressure had 
been produced in England in every branch of industry, and 
that the calamity had never been exceeded. Englishmen 
that had invested money in this country now began to de- 
mand payment on their stocks, bonds, and notes. With 
what were Americans to pay ? With the paper of the hun- 
dreds of banks scattered here and there throughout the 
country — ^banks with little or no gold and silver in their 
vaults, and without capital that could be turned into good 
money ? Of course, the Englishmen wanted good money. 
Jackson's specie circular, too, did much to topple over the 
castles in the air which the people had been building. It 
now became clear enough that the paper of worthless banks 
was not money ; and it soon appeared that nearly everything 
had acquired an unreal price. Speculation came sharply to 
a standstill. Commercial failures began in April. One 
business house after another failed. All sorts of goods 
fell in price. Workmen were thrown out of employment, 
and there was much suffering among the poor. Men who 
had thought themselves rich, found that their wealth was 
in Western lands for which there was no market, or in 
promises to pay on which they could not realize, or in 
shares of some gigantic project which was now no more. 
The great fabric, reared on credit and hope, fell, and the 
whole country was in consternation. Such was the dismal 
outcome of the extravagance and wild speculation of a decade. 
The lesson was pretty sharply taught, that not the planning 
of new cities where none were needed, or the digging of 
canals where the country was not ready for them, or the 



ADMINISTRATION OF VAN BUREN— 1837-1841. 341 

speculation in lands or stocks, created real wealth or stored 
up help for the day of distress. 

Unfortunately, all the lessons of this panic were not 
gathered by the people. The Government was charged 
Eel from the ^^^^^ ^ large part of the trouble. Doubtless 
Government Jacksou's somewhat rude handling of the na- 
demanded. tional bank and financial affairs had aggra- 

vated matters, but the root of the evil was far deeper : it 
sprang from reckless extravagance. There was a wide de- 
mand now for the Government to lift the people out of 
their difficulties, but the Government was itself in perplex- 
ing straits. Beginning in January to distribute money 
among the States, before the end of the year it was not 
only unable to pay the last of the four quarterly install- 
ments, but was hardly able to meet its own running ex- 
penses. Van Buren refused to adopt or recommend any 
extraordinary plans for bringing about good times. He 
saw that only time and industry could bring back a condi- 
tion of hope and faith, which were the basis of growth and 
prosperity. Moreover, he did not believe it was the duty 
of government — especially the United States Government — 
to take a paternal care over interests that were best left to 
individuals. He was in consequence denounced as hard- 
hearted and cruel by Whig orators and by many of the 
people. 

He recommended (special session, September, 1837) that 
thereafter the Government of the United States should do 
its own financial business ; that it should not 
^relsu^f'"'^'''* keep its funds in State banks, nor, on the other 
hand, establish another national bank, but that 
the money should be collected and kept by the Govern- 
ment itself. This meant simply that whatever money was 
collected should be put by the Government in its own 
"strong box." The plan — called the "Divorce Bill," be- 
cause it divorced the Government from the banks — was 
bitterly attacked, and was not indeed adopted until 1840. 



342 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



The 
abolitionists. 



In the next administration (1841) this bill was repealed, 
but in 1846 a like measure was passed, and since that day 
has remained in force almost unchanged. 

The country suffered severely from the panic during a 
good portion of Van Buren's term ; but there were other 
questions that occasionally occupied public in- 
terest, and one of these was of even more im- 
portance than money and banking. Since the 
Missouri compromise the slavery question had not been 
allowed to disappear entirely from public attention. Until 

about 1830, however, there was 
little discussion, and little oc- 
casion for excitement. In 1829 
William Lloyd Garrison and 
Benjamin Lundy began to 
print, at Baltimore, The Gen- 
ius of Universal Emancipation. 
Two years later Garrison 
founded The Liberator, at Bos- 
ton, and in 1832 the New Eng- 
land Antislavery Society was 
founded. The society advo- 
cated the abolition of slavery at 
once, on the ground that it was 
sinful and demoralizing. Men 
were called to " immediate re- 
pentance." Somewhat later the 
American Antislavery Society was organized. It grew but 
slowly at first, and met with the angry opposition of many 
who saw that the South would not consent to immediate 
action, and that the preaching of such doctrine would neces- 
sarily bring sectional ill feeling and disturbance. 

During the next few years many abolitionists* were 

* It should be noticed that abolitionism was essentially different 
from other earlier movements against slavery, inasmuch as its main 
tenet was the sinfulness of slavery, which tainted the slaveholder and 




^5^^*^^ 



ADMINISTRATION OF VAN BUREN— 1837-1841. 343 

attacked by Northern mobs, in large part made up doubt- 
less of the more ignorant and excitable people, but some 

of them containing men who ought to have 
They suffer known that, in a free country, persecution and 

violence are the poorest of arguments, and likely 
to have quite an opposite effect from that intended. In 
1833 Prudence Crandall opened her school in Canterbury, 
Conn., to negro girls. She was cast into jail, and her school 
building destroyed. Like outrages occurred elsewhere. In 
1837 Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot in Alton, 111. His offense 
was the publication of an antislavery newspaper. Even in 
Boston Garrison was mobbed, and led through the street 
with a rope about his neck. 

The feeling at the South against the abolitionists was 
intense. It was to be expected that slave owners would be 
„^ « ,^ incensed against an organization which de- 

The South ^ -,-,-, m- . i • n- £ 

demands their clared slavcholdmg to be a sm, calling tor m- 
suppression. stant repentance. Men who had been sur- 
rounded by the system all their lives might see some of its 
bad effects, but were not willing to be denounced as crimi- 
nals. Some of them now declared that abolition news- 
papers and pamphlets should be shut out from the mails, 
and the Governor of Alabama went so far as to demand 
that New York should turn over to his State for punish- 
ment the publisher of the Emancipator, an antislavery 
paper, on the ground that he had disseminated seditious 
articles (1835).* The Southern papers called for action on 
the part of the Northern States. " Words, words, words 

the whole nation. It would have nothing to do with gradual emanci- 
pation ; its purpose was to arouse the conscience of the nation to imme- 
diate repentance. 

* The Constitution provides for the return of fugitives from justice 
to the State whence they have fled ; but it makes no provision for the 
authorities of one State to turn over to another State a person charged 
with a crime in such second State when he did not actually flee 
from it. 



344 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

are all we are to have," said one. " Up to the mark the 
North must come if it would restore tranquillity and pre- 
serve the Union," said another. The South was moving on 
dangerous ground. There was little sympathy with the 
abolitionists at the North, but the excessive demands of 
the South were sure to bring about a reaction, in part at 
least. An occasional mob might attack " a fanatic," but 
there was little chance that the Northern people would turn 
over to Alabama a Northern man for punishment because 
he had written or said words distasteful to the South, 
or that they would suppress by law free speech on the sub- 
ject of slavery. 

Thus at the beginning of Van Buren's term the slavery 
question had taken on a new and dangerous aspect. At 
o-[ ^ J, the North the open abolitionists were few, but 

question in a seemed to be slowly increasing. At the South 
new phase. there was deep resentment. Sharp debates had 
occurred in Congress. The South could look with no pa- 
tience on a movement whose promoters denounced slave- 
holding as a cardinal sin, and who refused to consider any 
plans or methods but immediate and unconditional abo- 
lition. Now began that controversy which ended in the 
civil war. Sectional feeling grew constantly more bitter. 

A favorite idea of some Northern opponents of slavery, 
even when not abolitionists, was to bring about the abo- 
lition of slavery in the District of Columbia, 
tbe^^^a *^^ Petitions to this end came to Congress in in- 
creasing numbers. A rule was proposed in the 
House providing that such petitions should not be printed 
or referred to a committee, but laid upon the table (1836). 
John Quincy Adams was then a member of the House, and 
when this rule was presented, he rose and said : " I hold the 
resolution to be a direct violation of the Constitution of 
the United States, the rules of this House, and the rights 
of my constituents." The rule was adopted by a large 
majority ; but from that time on Adams devoted himself 



ADMINISTRATION OF VAN BUREN— 1837-1841. 345 

to the presentation of antislavery petitions and to an at- 
tempt to bring about an abandonment of the so-called 
" g^g policy." He was not successful, however, until after 
eight years of effort. This long contest of Adams for the 
right of petition is full of striking and dramatic scenes. 
The proslavery men made a serious blunder when they 
tried to prevent debate on this great question. Not only 
did they array against them the keenest debater in the 
House, but the effort to stifle discussion awoke the interest 
of the nation, and thousands of men signed petitions or 
were won over to antislavery sentiment who otherwise 
would have had nothing to do with the movement. The 
first eighteen months of the gag policy increased the num- 
ber of antislavery petitions from twenty-three to three 
hundred thousand. The abolitionists henceforth might 
be denounced, but they were safe from personal violence. 

Among other difficulties of these days was war with the 
Southern Indians. For some time the National Govern- 
ment had been striving to remove all the In- 
The second dians to new homes beyond the Mississippi. 
The Seminoles of Florida were a great object 
of hatred to the people of Georgia, because they offered an 
asylum to runaway slaves and were savage and intractable 
neighbors. Finally, under the leadership of their famous 
chief, Osceola, the Indians began war. The contest lasted 
for seven years (1835-'42), and was full of atrocities and 
horrors. The troops that were sent into the wilds of 
Florida suffered from fevers and exposure almost as much 
as from the tomahawk and scalping knife. Many lives 
were lost and millions of money expended to secure at last 
this old Spanish dominion that bore the peaceful name of 
the Land of Easter. 

In the election of 1840 there were three tickets in the 

field. The Democrats nominated Van Buren again. They 

stood pretty squarely on the platform of 1836, favoring the 

rights of the States and opposing the assumption of power 

24 



346 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

by the National Government. They were against a national 

bank, and in favor of the independent treasury. Some of 

the States were badly in debt because of the 
Democratic '' 

platform in extravagances of the last ten years; some had 

1840. repudiated their debts, and there was now a 

demand in some quarters that the United States assume 
and pay State obligations. This the Democrats opposed.* 
The natural Whig candidate was Clay, the real leader 
of the party. He had been fighting valiantly against Jack- 
son and his successor for years, and represented 
The w gs. ^j^^ meaning and motive of the Whigs better 
than any other man. But by means of a trick of the politi- 
cal managers in the convention. Clay was passed by and 
General Harrison put in nomination. The Whig party was 
in these years essentially a party of opposition ; it was 
therefore made up of different elements, some of which had 
no positive principle in agreement with the main body of 
the party. One of these elements was a State-rights ele- 
ment, that had found its way into opposition because of 
dislike of Jackson's personal rule and what was considered 
his high-handed methods. In mere attacks, such men 
could work side by side with the Whigs, and might con- 
sider themselves brothers in the same party with Clay 
and Webster ; but in reality almost the only point in com- 
mon was opposition to Jackson and his disciples. To this 
element belonged John Tyler, of Virginia. He was a 
thorough State-rights man ; he had early declared that 
Congress could not prohibit slavery in the Territories, and 
in 1833 had cast in the Senate the only vote against the 
bill providing for the maintenance of national law and 

* The Democrats at this time were often called the " Loco-focos," 
but the name is more strictly applicable to a factioTi of the party. For 
the origin of the name and the meaning of the "loco-foco " movement, 
see Von Hoist, Constitutional History, vol. ii, p. 396 ; Shepard, Martin 
Van Buren, p. 293 ; Lalor, Cyclopaedia, vol. ii, p. 781 ; see also the 
dictionary under Locofoco. 



ADMINISTRATION OF VAN BUREN— 1837-1841. S4:1 

supremacy. He is said to have wept when Clay was not 
nominated, and "Tyler's tears" were asserted to be the 
reason for his own nomination to the vice-presidency — a 
nomination due in part doubtless to a desire to hold in the 
party the element which he represented.* The Whigs put 
forth no declaration of principles. 

A third party was now before the people. It was called 
the " Liberty party," and was composed of those who were 

strongly opposed to slavery, but willing to take 
pa^rt^'^''*^ political means of getting rid of ihe evil. Such 

means Garrison and his school of abolitionists 
objected to. They considered their movement a moral 
reform, not to be sullied by politics. Indeed, the orthodox 
abolitionists soon refused to cast a ballot of any kind, be- 
cause the Constitution itself was tainted with immorality, 
inasmuch as it recognized slavery, and because a union with 
slaveholders was wrong. The Constitution they declared to 
be, in the words of the Hebrew prophet, " a covenant with 
death and an agreement with hell." f The nominees of 
the Liberty party were James Gr. Birney and Thomas Earle. 
The election was one of great excitement. The people, 
as never before, entered with unbounded enthusiasm into 
the contest. There was little calm discussion of principles. 
In the race for popular favor the Democrats were left far 
in the background by the Whigs, who claimed to be the 
people's party and made every appeal to popular sympathy. 
Monster meetings, long processions, campaign songs, took 
the place of argument. " Every breeze says change," said 
Webster. " The time for discussion has passed," exclaimed 
Clay. " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " was the watchword of 

* Thurlow Weed, a prominent Whig politician, declared that Tyler 
was elected " because we could get nobody else to accept." 

f " And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your 
agreement with hell shall not stand ; when the overflowing scourge 
shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it." (Isaiah 
xxviii, 18.) 



348 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

the jubilant party, which had never yet tasted success, but 
expected now to be triumphant. The most was made of 
the fact that Harrison was a simple Westerner. Throughout 
the campaign live coons and barrels of cider were always in 
evidence ; log cabins were reared as emblems in town and 
city, or were drawn about on carts in long processions to 
mass meetings, which the newspapers said contained " acres 
of men." Enthusiasm for Harrison, strongly aided by the 
hard times, for which the Democrats had to bear the blame, 
easily carried the day for the Whigs.* They were wild 
with elation and overcome with joy. Nineteen States out of 
twenty-six cast their electoral votes for Harrison and Tyler. 

References. 
/. Short accounts: Wilson, Division and Reunion, Chapters IV and 
V; Roosevelt, Benton, Chapters VIII-X; Schurz, Clay, II, pp. 
113-198; Shepard, Van Buren, pp. 242-300; Morse, John Quincy 
Adams, pp. 240-301. Longer accounts : Schouler, History, IV, pp. 
274-359 ; Hart, Slavery and Abolition. 

ADMINISTRATION OP WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON AND 
JOHN TYLER— 1841-1845. 

Harrison was an honest, straightforward, simple man, of 
moderate ability. He was not a great statesman, nor did 

he show himself to be a leader of men, but 
Ss^.^'"^ throughout life he quietly and conscientiously 

performed the duties that devolved upon him. 
He won some honor in the War of 1812, when the nation 
craved national heroes. He was Governor of Indiana Ter- 

* Interesting accounts of this campaign of sound and excitement will 
be found in Schouler, History, vol. iv, pp. 328-340, especially pp. 335-340 ; 
Shepard, Van Buren, pp. 327-338 ; Schurz, Henry Clay, vol. ii, pp. 
170-197 ; Von Hoist, Constitutional History, vol. ii, pp. 390-405. One 
of the pieces of doggerel verse used in the campaign was only too de- 
scriptive — • 

" National Republicans in Tippecanoe, 
And Democratic Republicans in Tyler, too." 

This was a strange combination of men and principles. 



ADMINISTRATION OF TYLER— 1841-1845. 349 

ritory for twelve years, a Representative in Congress, and 
also a Senator. For some years before his election he had 
been living in a quiet, unassuming way at his home in Ohio. 
The new President was inaugurated with unwonted dis- 
play. The Whigs were jubilant, but were soon to be disap- 
^ , . . pointed. Harrison announced his Cabinet al- 

Tne Degmning ^ 

of the most immediately. Daniel Webster was made 

administration. Secretary of State. Clay did not desire to 
enter the Cabinet, though he could have had the place 
given to Webster. It was better so ; Clay was in no mood 
to be second even to the President. The spoils system had 
been very objectionable to many Whigs when out of power, 
but now the tide of office seekers set in, and there was a 
scramble for office quite as vigorous as any that had occurred 
before. This practice, now indorsed by both parties, fastened 
and confirmed the system in national politics.* 

Harrison was sixty-eight years of age, and was not ro- 
bust in body. The campaign had fatigued him, and the 

duties of his new position sorely tried his 
PresWent^^ strength. He was beset by office seekers. Just 

one month after his inauguration he died. 
For the first time in our history death entered the White 
House. The people were shocked at such an end of their 
hopes. Harrison was deservedly popular, and the whole 
nation sincerely mourned his loss. 

Tyler at once assumed the duties and the title of Presi- 
dent. The Whigs who had elected him were somewhat 

anxious, but for a time tried to preserve a bold 
PrSr °''' front. Tyler's whole career could give them no 

assurance that he would follow what they con- 
sidered the Whig programme. At first things went smoothly. 
He retained Harrison's Cabinet, and issued an address to 

* " We have nothing here in politics," wrote Horace Greeley, who had 
during the campaign edited the Log Cabin newspaper, " but large and 
numerous swarms of office-hunting locusts, sweeping on to Washington 
daily." See Schurz, Henry Clay, vol. ii, p. 192. 



350 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

the people, in which he said nothing that was particularly 
new or that gave notice of Democratic leanings. Difficul- 
ties soon arose, however. Clay felt himself the leader of 
the party, and, by nature imperious and qualified for leader- 
ship, he could not brook the pretensions of the man whose 
position had been secured by sheer accident. Tyler, in 
turn, was headstrong and ambitious, and seems to have be- 
gun early to nurse hopes of a re-election. However that 
may be, his whole history showed that, unless he renounced 
his past, he could not agree with the Whigs on affirmative 
measures, however well he might have got along with them 
when both were in opposition. 

It is not necessary to recount here the different steps by 
which Tyler became estranged from the party that elected 
T 1 r and the ^^^' '^^i*^® ^^^ ^ bank bill passed by Con- 
WMgs gress and vetoed by the President. His cabi- 

estranged. j^g^^ ^^j|-]-^ |.]-^g exception of Webster, resigned. 

Webster remained in office in order that he might settle 
difficulties that then existed between England and America. 
When he had brought these to a satisfactory settlement, he, 
too, gave up his office. A tariff law was passed (1842) and 
signed by the President, but this was accomplished only 
after a long struggle, in the course of which two different 
tariff measures were vetoed. Before the middle of his term 
Tyler was without strong support in either party, but was 
upheld by a few men who were sneered at as "the cor- 
poral's guard." We need not consider who was right in 
this political controversy. The Whigs were deprived of much 
that they considered the legitimate fruit of their victory.* 

The difficulties with England alluded to above were for 
a while quite serious. In Van Buren's administration an in- 
cident occurred commonly called "the Caroline affair.'' 
There was at that time an insurrection in Canada, and some 

* " As an instance of the President's unpopularity, an influenza 
which about this time broke out acquired the name of the ' Tyler 
grippe.' " (Schouler, iv, p. 433.) 



ADMINISTRATION OF TYLER— 1841-1845. 351 

of the people of the United States sympathized with the 
rebels. A vessel, the Caroline, seems to have been used to 

transport men and supplies from New York 
The Caroline across the Niagara River. An expedition from 

Canada crossed to the American side, seized the 
vessel, set her on fire and let her drift over the falls. An 
American citizen was killed in the affair. Some years after 
this a Canadian named McLeod was arrested in New York 
and charged with the murder of the American. The English 

Government demanded the release of this man, 

on the ground that the whole matter was a 
public affair, for which England herself, and not a private 
citizen, was responsible. The New York authorities refused 
to surrender their prisoner to the National Government, and 
the situation was serious and critical. Fortunately he was 
acquitted upon trial, and so England had on this score no 
further ground of complaint. 

Some time before these occurrences serious disputes had 
arisen concerning the northeastern boundary. The terms 

of the treaty that was signed at the close of the 

The northeast- Revolution were not explicit. Maine and Can- 
em Doundary. ^ 

ada both laid claim to a large territory, and 

each insisted that under the treaty she was the rightful 
owner. There was danger of war. Maine ordered troops 
into the disputed territory and held it, and this armed pos- 
session, known as the " Aroostook war," is said to have cost 
the State a million dollars (1839). War was prevented, 
however, and negotiations for settlement were undertaken. 
In 1842 Lord Ashburton came to America authorized to 
treat, and he and Webster agreed on a treaty which com- 
promised this dispute, and set at rest all controversies con- 
cerning the northern boundary of the United States even 
as far west as the Lake of the Woods. It also provided for 
the extradition of certain classes of criminals, and for keep- 
ing armed cruisers of both nations employed in checking 
the slave trade. 



352 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Two outbreaks of a somewhat serious nature occurred 
within the States of the Union during Tyler's administra- 
tion. One was the so-called Dorr Rebellion, in 
RebeUi^. Rhode Island. It was the result of an effort 

to extend the suffrage and correct the faults 
of the existing constitutional system, which seemed to many 
people unsuited to the needs of the State. Rhode Island 
still retained as a fundamental law the old charter of Charles 
II, a document that had been admirably suited to a simple 
agricultural community, but was not so well adapted to new 
and changed conditions of life. Some modification had 
been made years before, widening the suffrage somewhat, 
but there was still a large property qualification. Moreover, 
the basis of representation was entirely out of date. Disre- 
garding legal forms and methods, the "suffrage party," 
under the lead of Thomas W. Dorr, endeavored to establish 
a new Constitution. Under this instrument Dorr was elected 
Governor. The legal authorities refused to recognize the 
Constitution or the new officers. Trouble ensued. Troops 
were collected on both sides. The State was on the verge 
of civil war. Dorr was arrested and imprisoned, but on the 
other hand a new Constitution was adopted with more lib- 
eral and reasonable provisions. Although the Dorrites won 
their point, the constitutional party preserved the principle 
that a constitution must be altered by legal methods, by ob- 
serving the forms and restrictions laid down in the Consti- 
tution, not by assuming a popular demand for change. 

The other outbreak, " the patroon war " or the " anti- 
rent trouble," occurred in New York. Descendants of the 
old Dutch patroons still held large estates, and, 
war.^^^°°^ as population increased, their exactions from 
their tenants were irritating and irksome in the 
extreme, recalling rather the dues of the old feudal system 
than reasonable rents. Attempts to collect back rent and 
to enforce the legal rights of the landlords, especially in the 
great manor of Rensselaerwyck, caused disturbances which 



ADMINISTRATION OF TYLER— 1841-1845. 353 

lasted for about ten years (from 1839 to 1849), during 
which time little rent was collected and the authorities of 
the State were often openly resisted. The matter was finally 
adjusted by reasonable compromise. 

A new invention was now presented to a wondering 
world. In 1837 Samuel F. B. Morse took out a patent for 
sending messages by electricity. Not till 1843 
The electno ^-^ j-^^ succeed in getting from Congress an ap- 
propriation that enabled him to make a practi- 
cal and convincing test. The next year a line was run 
from Baltimore to Washington — forty miles. " What hath 
God wrought ? " was the first message sent over the wire. 
The invention made great changes in methods of conduct- 
ing all sorts of business, The newspaper could now contain 
the intelligence of yesterday. As the invention came into 
use everywhere the same news could be read on the same 
day everywhere in the land. Space no longer need divide 
men into warring factions, when they could think the same 
thoughts and feel the same emotions at the same time. 
Politically as well as socially, the telegraph, like the rail- 
road, was of great importance. It narrowed our big country, 
and brjought the National Government to each man's door. 

For some time past the question of the annexation of 

Texas to the United States had been receiving a good share 

of the public attention. Let us look for a 
Texas 

moment at the history of the whole matter. 

It will be remembered that in 1819-'31 the United States 
agreed with Spain that the Sabine River should be our 
southwestern boundary. Under the Louisiana treaty we 
had ground for claiming even as far as the Rio Grande, but 
of course gave up our claim by the later agreement. Hard- 
ly had the treaty with Spain been agreed to when Mexico 
attained her independence and came into the ownership 
of the Texas country. Settlers from the Southern States 
began to move into this territory. Before 1830 there was 
a considerable American population there, utterly out of 



364 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

sympathy with Mexico and her whole political system. In 
1836 the Texans declared their independence, and, led by 
Samuel Houston, fought and won the battle of San Jacinto. 
From that time on Mexican authority practically ceased. 
The next year Texas asked admittance to the Union. Many 
of the Southern people now became intent upon annexation 
because it would extend slave territory. Nothing of impor- 
tance was done in Van Buren's administration, but after 
Tyler came into office plans for getting Texas were seriously 
taken up, especially by some of the Southern enthusiasts. 
In 1844 Calhoun became Secretary of State. He bent all 
his energies toward the desired end. A treaty of annexa- 
tion was secretly entered into, but it was rejected by the 
Senate. Texas claimed that she possessed more territory 
than the original Mexican province of that name, and in- 
deed a much greater territory than she had ever acquired 
control of. She claimed all east and north of the Eio 
Grande.* Annexation of the State and adoption of her 
claims meant probably a war with Mexico. Such was the 
situation when the election of 1844 occurred. 

It was generally supposed that Van Buren would be the 

Democratic candidate in this election. But he opposed the 

annexation of Texas, and was defeated in the 

Candidates in convention. James K. Polk, of Tennessee, was 

1844. . 

nominated in his stead. George M. Dallas, of 
Pennsylvania, secured the nomination for Vice-President, f 
Clay, too, objected to bringing Texas into the Union, but 

* " That is, as if Maine should secede, and claim that her boundaries 
were the Alleghanies and the Potomac. . . . That is, as if Maine should 
join the Dominion of Canada, and England should set up a claim to the 
New England and Middle States, based on the declaration of Maine 
aforesaid." (Sumner, Andrew Jackson, p. 357.) This illustration is in 
somewhat exaggerated form, but shows the Texas situation well. 

f The Democratic platform demanded " the reoccupation of Oregon 
and the reannexation of Texas at the earliest practical period." These 
words were shrewdly chosen to indicate that we had given up territory 
that was justly ours. 



ADMINISTRATION OF TYLER— 1841-1845. 355 

the Whigs nominated him with enthusiasm, and gave the 
second place to Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey. 
The Liberty party was again in the field, with Birney and 
Thomas Morris for their candidates. 

The burning question of the campaign was the annexa- 
tion of Texas. In the midst of the contest. Clay, hoping to 
win friends of annexation without repelling its 
Clay and the f^gg ^j-ote liis famous Alabama letters. He 

Whigs. 

declared he should be glad to see the annexa- 
tion of Texas " without dishonor, without war, with the 
common consent of the Union, and on just and fair terms." 
He did not think " the subject of slavery ought to affect 
the matter." By these words he lost many Northern votes, 
without gaining any from the South or from the extreme 
annexationists, who were now shouting " Texas or dis- 
union ! " On the whole, the Whigs were strongly opposed 
to the acquisition of more slave territory, and those who 
were not averse to the annexation of Texas strongly dis- 
approved of hasty measures and the studied disregard of 
Mexico's protests. 

The Democratic party, however, by the nomination of 
Polk instead of Van Buren, and by the direct statements of 

its platform, was committed to annexation. 

Many Northern Democrats doubtless were op- 
posed to slavery extension, but party ties held them close, 
and they voted for Polk and the " reannexation " of Texas. 
This was a turning point in the party history, for this 
sympathy with a movement which seemed intended, in 
large part at least, only to add another slave State to the 
Union, alienated a number of old-time Democrats at the 
North and won new adherents at the South. The small 
farmers of the Northern States had from the beginning of 
the century belonged naturally in the ranks of the Demo- 
cratic party beside the agriculturists of the South ; but 
now this element began to drift away from its old moor- 
ings, either into the Whig party or into the party that was 



356 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

more definitely the foe of slavery and slave extension. One 
must speak here only of tendencies and beginnings. These 
changes were wrought out only gradually. But we shall 
find that in the course of fifteen years the Democracy lost 
its hold upon the Northern States, and, by a careful exam- 
ination, we can see that this loss took its marked begin- 
nings with the Texas agitation and the nomination of Polk. 
The election was an exciting contest. Clay had all the 
qualities of leadership, and aroused the enthusiasm of the 
people. Men were devoted to him with some- 

feS"" ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ *^ ^ ^®®P affection. The extrava- 
gances of 1840 were not repeated, but there was 
great and intense earnestness. While Texas was the absorb- 
ing topic, many sought to blind their own eyes or those of 
others to the real question. The tariff was discussed at 
great length, and at the North especially both parties 
claimed to be its defenders. Some little enthusiasm, too, 
was aroused by the proposition of the Democratic platform 
to take possession of the Oregon country, then held jointly 
with England. Clay was defeated. Had the Liberty party 
cast its vote for him, he would have been elected. Over 
sixty thousand votes were given for its candidates, and it 
held the balance of power in New York and Michigan. 
The Whigs were greatly cast down over the defeat. " It 
was," said an eyewitness, "as if the firstborn of every 
family had been stricken down." 

Tyler and his helpmates, intent upon the annexation of 
Texas, believed that the result of the election gave full war- 
rant for immediate action. Florida and Loui- 

^^Texas'^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ annexed by treaty. But Texas 
was an independent power, and it was proposed 
to pass a Joint resolution inviting her into the Union. If a 
treaty were made, it would be necessary that two thirds of the 
Senate should vote to confirm it, and such a vote could not 
be secured. A resolution required only a majority of each 
House. This, then, seemed the only feasible plan for the 



ADMINISTRATION OF TYLER— 1841-1845. 



357 



annexationists. A joint resolution was passed giving the 
President authority either to invite Texas into the Union 
as a State or to negotiate formally with her concerning ad- 
mission. It declared that four new States besides Texas 
might be made out of her territory, but that in any new 
States so formed there should be no slavery north of 36° 30'. 
Tyler did not hesitate which of the alternatives to accept. 




He did not wish to leave the honor of annexation to Polk ; 
so the day before he left office he sent off a messenger in 

hot haste to the " Lone Star Republic " with 
of Texas the proposals for immediate union (March, 1845). 
beginning of Texas, of course, accepted the invitation. This 

was the beginning of the end ; from this time 
on the policy of slavery extension found thousands and 
tens of thousands of bitter opponents at the North. Texas 



358 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

was the last slave State admitted to the Union. Texas claimed 
all the land north and east of the Eio Grande Eiver from 
its mouth to its source, and south and west of the line of 
1 819-'21. By this annexation there was added to the United 
States 376,163 square miles of territory, an area greater than 
that of France and England combined. The accession of 
so much slave territory naturally startled the North and 
made men watchful and suspicious. We must not think 
that there was as yet anything like a united sentiment at 
the North against the extension of slavery, but every year 
and every new success on the part of the South tended to 
awaken and strengthen antislavery feeling. Up to this 
time the North had rested in some security, because slavery 
was hemmed in by the Missouri compromise line and the 
southern and western limits of the Union. In the future 
there was to be little security ; the annexation of Texas 
showed a new way of adding to the limits of slavery. 

References. 

The best short accounts are in Wilson, Division and Reunion, 
pp. 133-145; Schurz, Henry Clay, Volume II, pp. 198-268; Lodge, 
Daniel Webster, Chapter VIII ; Bryant and Gay, Popular History, 
Volume IV, pp. 356-369; Roosevelt, Thomas H. Benton, pp. 
237-316; Burgess, The Middle Period, pp. 278-327. Longer ac- 
count: Schouler, History, Volume IV, pp. 359-494. 




Eeproduction of the First Telegraphic Message sent by the 
Morse System, now Preserved at Harvard College. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Territorial Expansion — Shall Slave Territory be extended?— 
1845-1861. 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES K. POLK— 1845-1849. 

James K. Polk was in many ways a remarkable man. 
When he was nominated for the presidency he was not 
well known, though he had been in Congress, 
and even Speaker of the House. "Who is 
Polk ? " was a common inquiry, and the Whigs made much 
sport of the Democrats for placing such a competitor 
against their peerless Clay. But when Polk assumed ofl&ce 
it became apparent that he was no pygmy; and as one 
studies his career in the light of historical evidence it is 
seen that he was in some sort a man of iron, with unyield- 
ing determination and unflinching purpose. He was a keen 
and unrelenting partisan, but conscientiously devoted to 
the interests of his country as he saw them. Altogether 
pure and upright in private life, in politics his feelings 
were not delicate, and in diplomacy it is to be feared that 
he believed that an honorable end justified unworthy means. 
His Cabinet was composed of able men. The more impor- 
tant were James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of 
State ; Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, Secretary of the 
Treasury ; William L. Marcy, of New York, Secretary of 
War; George Bancroft, of Massachusetts, the historian. 
Secretary of the Navy. 

At the very beginning of his administration the Presi- 
dent privately announced the purpose not only of establish- 
ing the independent Treasury and reducing the tariff, but 
also of settling the northwestern boundary trouble and ac- 

359 



360 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

quiring California. He succeeded in accomplisliing all these 
objects. The independent Treasury was re-established. A 
new tariff act was passed materially lowering 
The Presi- ^^q duties and making inroads upon the pro- 
tective system so dear to the Whigs. How he 
achieved his other objects we shall see as we go on. 

Texas, as we have seen, accepted the invitation to enter 
the Union. This was in the summer of 1845. Congress 
installed her as a State in the Union in December of that 
year. Before that was done, however — before, in fact, 
Texas was legally part of the United States — Polk sent 
troops within her boundaries to defend her against possible 
attack, and to make sure that annexation was not inter- 
rupted by Mexican interference. General Zachary Taylor 
was ordered to Texas, and in November had about four 
thousand men in his command. He took a position on the 
left bank of the Nueces Eiver. 

While the plans for the acquisition of Texas were being 
thus carried to a successful end, hopes of new possessions 
in the Northwest were likewise awakened. For 
The reoccupa- g^jj^g years the land beyond the Eocky Moun- 
reg n. ^^^^^^ ^^^ north of California, known as the 
Oregon country, had been jointly occupied by England and 
the United States. Each claimed the title, but for the 
time being agreed not to demand exclusive rights there. 
Our demands were based (1) on the Louisiana purchase, a 
shadowy title, (2) upon the Spanish cession of 1819-'21, (3) 
upon early exploration, and (4) upon settlement and occu- 
pation. England's claims were similar. She claimed by 
discovery, basing her title in the first place on the voyage 
of Drake in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Later explora- 
tion helped to substantiate her title, and settlements had 
been made by English subjects on Nootka Sound even at 
the end of the last century. Of the valley of the Columbia, 
however, or at least the larger portion of it, we were fairly 
well assured, because for some years emigrants from the 



ADMINISTRATION OF POLK— 1845-1849. 361 

States had been making their way thither, and even now 
(1845-'46) the emigrant wagons were carrying many new 
settlers to the region. This actual occupation gave us nine 
clear points in law. The " reoccupation " of Oregon had 
been coupled in the presidential campaign with the " rean- 
nexation " of Texas, for we claimed both under the Louisi- 
ana treaty, and now, after the inauguration of Polk, there 
was a popular demand, especially from the Western States, 
for " the whole of Oregon," and the cry was raised of " Fifty- 
four forty or fight." * It looked for a time, indeed, as if war 
might ensue, because it could hardly be hoped that Eng- 
land would consent to having her American dominions 
limited by the Rocky Mountains. The difficulty was finally 
settled, however, by a compromise. The two countries 
showed their good sense by not fighting for land or sup- 
posed honor, when both had reasonable grounds for their 
claims. The forty-ninth parallel already marked the divi- 
sion between the British dominions and those of the United 
States as far west as the mountains, and the same line was 
now agreed upon as the boundary through to the Pacific, f 

War did not break out immediately upon the annexation 
of Texas, as might well have been the case. The claims of 

Texas were so extraordinary that Mexico could 
What was j^^^ admit them to be just, inasmuch as they 

included not alone the old province of Texas, 
but a large territory besides over which the State had not 
succeeded in establishing control, and to which she had title 

* Fifty-four forty was the southern point of Alaska, then in the pos- 
session of Russia, known as Russian America. 

f The statement in the text is substantially accurate, but it is worth 
remarking that the line ran to sea water, and then followed the middle 
of the channel dividing Vancouver's Island from the main, and then 
through the middle of Fuca Strait. A dispute later arose as to what 
was the middle or the main channel. In 1873 the German Emperor, 
chosen as arbitrator, gave his decision in favor of America. Thus ninety 
years elapsed (1782-1872) belore our nortliern line was finally deter- 
mined. See map, p. 370. 
25 



362 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

only by assertion. What were the boundaries of Texas as a 
province of Mexico is somewhat difficult to say, and, in fact, 
what they were makes little difference. The Texans had 
certainly not made good, by war and occupation, a title to 
more than so much of the Mexican territory as lay north of 
the Nueces River and east of the present eastern boundary 
of New Mexico. By our assumption of the claim of Texas 
to all the land north and east of the Rio Grande from its 
mouth to its source, and by any endeavor to follow up our 
claim by taking actual possession of the disputed portion, 
we were sure to bring on war, unless Mexico was submissive 
and ready to bow before the superior strength of the United 
States. But such was not the case. Poor, weak, torn by 
internal strife and dissension, the Mexicans still retained 
a modicum of their old Spanish spirit. They were not 
given to self-control at the best, and were now greatly 
irritated. 

Moreover, Polk wanted California and laid his plans to 
get it. While he was doubtless ready to buy the coveted 
_^ . region, he was also ready to surround Mexico 

to obtain with difficulties, and willing so to arrange mat- 

Oalifornia. ^g^g h^q^i^ jf ^^r should break out, we could 

pounce upon California and add another vast territory to 
our dominions. The methods of the administration were 
many and devious. The whole affair does not furnish the 
pleasantest reading in American history, for it can hardly 
be denied that our Government used power with unseemly 
disregard of a weaker neighbor's rights, and pressed roughly 
forward to the goal we wished for. It is not agreeable to 
remember that those in authority forgot the high duty rest- 
ing upon them as the representatives of a great country 
claiming to be the leader of the New World, not in might 
alone, but in intelligence, virtue, and the graces of civiliza- 
tion. The far West, which soon proved to be golden, be- 
longed, perhaps, by a manifest destiny to the Anglo-Saxon 
man ; but if we could have obtained it by means that re- 



ADMINlSTRvVTION OP POLK— 1845 1849. 363 

dounded to our honor, this would have been a brigliter page 
in our history. 

Although one must acknowledge that in large measure 
the South was moved by a desire to attain more territory 
„ , , for slavery, and that Polk was not magnani- 

Geograpliy and • i • . , x 4? iv/r • \, i^ 

manifest mous HI his treatment oi Mexico, we should 

destiny. j^^|^ forget that the American feeling of mani- 

fest destiny had a physical basis. Texas was, to all intents 
and purposes, part of the great central valley of the conti- 
nent, the greater portion of which had become part of the 
American possessions; the Rio Grande seemed to be the 
only reasonable halting place in the forward movement of 
the population toward the Southwest. This energetic for- 
ward movement into the unsettled regions of the West had 
been going on since the English colonists first settled on 
the Atlantic coast, and with redoubled energy since the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century. Aptitude for settling 
new areas and for subduing the wilderness, zeal for more 
land and wider dominion, had become national traits. This 
is no excuse for the methods used in wresting Texas and 
the far West from the nerveless hands of Mexico ; but it ex- 
plains the fact in part. " It would be vain to expect," said 
Calhoun, " that we could prevent our people from penetrat- 
ing into California. Even before our present difficulties 
with Mexico the process had begun. We alone can people 
[this region] with an industrious and civilized race, which 
can develop its resources and add a new and extensive re- 
gion to the domain of commerce and civilization." * Benton 

* These words were spoken after the war with Mexico had begun. 
Calhoun, it may be said, was opposed to the war, but believed that our 
acquisition of the West was a foregone conclusion. We must remember 
that from the very beginning of English colonization the settlers in 
America had been pitted against other nations for the possession of the 
continent. The acquisition of Texas and California was another step 
in the great contest with Spain for dominion in America — a contest that 
began with Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his desire to build up a colonial 
realm for England and to weaken the power of Spain. (See chapter ii.) 



364 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

was opposed to the methods of annexation, and denounced 
intrigue ; but he desired the acquisition of the country by 
honorable means. His words show us that the movement 
was not merely a Southern conspiracy to extend slavery. 
" We want Texas," he said — *' that is to say, the Texas of La 
Salle ; and we want it for great natural reasons obvious as 
day, and permanent as Nature." 

The land between the Nueces Eiver and the Eio Grande 
was claimed by the United States as a part of Texas ; but 
Mexico was not ready to give up her title. In 
the early part of 1846 Polk, without sending 
word of his intention to Congress, which was then in ses- 
sion, ordered General Taylor to take a position on the left 
bank of the Eio Grande. Taylor obeyed, and, moving to 
the river, intrenched himself opposite the Mexican town of 
Matamoras, where there were Mexican troops. " The armies 
being thus in presence, with anger in their bosoms and arms 
in their hands, that took place which everybody foresaw 
must take place — collisions and hostilities."* A detach- 
ment of Mexican troops was sent across the river by Arista, 
the commanding general. A small body of Americans was 
attacked and a few were killed. When the news reached 
the President, he sent a message to Congress declaring that 
" Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has 
invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon Amer- 
ican soil." War existed, he declared, notwithstanding all 
efforts to avoid it, and existed " by the act of Mexico her- 
self." Congress declared. May 13, 1846, that war existed 
by act of Mexico. Money was appropriated, and the Presi- 
dent was authorized to call for fifty thousand volunteers. 

There was now no help for it, and the country prepared 
for war. It was from the first popular with many. But, 
on the other hand, a strong element was bitterly opposed, 
not knowing in their bewilderment where the land hunger 

* Benton, Thirty Years' View, vol. ii, p. 679. 



ADMINISTRATION OP POLK— 1845-1849. 365 

of the nation would carry it. To the Whigs it seemed a 
Democratic war. Not all were opposed ; but those who had 
been averse to the annexation of Texas were ready to 
^ , denounce these bloody consequences. To the 

War unpopular -^ i • 

with some antislavery element at the North it seemed a 

persons. ^^^j. ^j^ behalf of slavery and for the exten- 

sion of slave territory. The feelings of these men were 
well voiced in the Biglow Papers, which were at this junc- 
ture written by James Russell Lowell and were very widely 
read. The keen sarcasm and homely humor of these verses 
— more effective than argument — made converts to the anti- 
slavery cause ; the war was more seriously attacked in these 
telling lines than by scores of pamphlets and speeches.* 

The first engagement of the war took place on the 
northern side of the Rio Grande. Taylor's defenses were 
attacked in his absence, but the garrison obeyed 
battler^ to the letter the instructions which their gen- 

eral had left : " Defend the fort to the death." 
The attack was repulsed. Then followed the battles of 
Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, May 8 and 9, 1846. The 
Americans, under Taylor, were greatly outnumbered, but 
fought with gallantry. The Mexicans were defeated, and 
withdrew across the Rio Grande. The Americans followed, 
and occupied Matamoras. After waiting here for a time 
that re-enforcements might be obtained, they pushed on into 
the enemy's country, and in September reached Monterey, 
a strongly fortified city. Here there was heavy fighting, 
but battery after battery was taken by assault, and the 

* " I dnnno but wiit it's pooty, 

Trainin' round in bobtail coats, — 
But it's cur'us Christian dooty, 
This 'ere cuttin' folks's throats. 

" They jest want this Oaliforny 
So's to lug new slave States in 
To abuse ye, an' to scorn ye, 
An' to plunder ye like sin." 



366 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 



place fell. Taylor then moved forward again. In Feb- 
ruary (1847) occurred the battle of Buena Vista. The 
Mexicans had four times as many troops as the Americans, 
but the American army was posted in a strong position. 
The Mexicans fought with great courage and obstinacy, but 
they were beaten again. The whole of the surrounding 




THE 3IEXICAN WA 



country, by reason of this victory, fell into the hands of the 
Americans. 

We may now turn to consider the movements of the 
other armies of invasion. General Kearny marched across 
the plains to Santa Fe, hoisted the American flag there, 
and proclaimed New Mexico a part of the United States. 



ADMINISTRATION OF POLK— 1845-1849. 



367 



General Scott's 
army. 



He tlien marched on into California, and reached San 
Diego. Long before his arrival, however, the principal 

part of that region had passed into our hands. 
^Tc^n °°' "^^^ some time a squadron had been kept on the 

western coast, ready to pounce upon the prize. 
When war was begun — in fact, even before it was known 
that an express declaration had been made — Monterey was 
seized. San Francisco and other chief harbors were also 
occupied. 

A new movement was begun in the early spring of 1847. 
General Scott took Vera Cruz, and began a march to the 

city of Mexico. A 

fierce battle took 

place at Cerro Gor- 
do, where the Mexicans, as 
usual, fought with bravery, and, 
as usual, were beaten.* Scott 
led his army forward again. 
He met with little opposition 
until near the enemy's capital. 
Here there were strong de- 
fenses ; but the Americans won 
a series of unbroken victories. 
The soldiers fought bravely, 
while Scott and his lieutenants 
showed great skill and daring. 
In September the heights of 
Chapultepec were stormed and the city of Mexico was taken. 
Peace was soon after concluded. 




* General Grant, who served as a second lieutenant in this war, 
speaks thus of the Mexican troops : " The Mexicans, as on many other 
occasions, stood up as well as any troops ever did. The trouble seemed 
to be the lack of experience amon^ the officers, which led them after a 
certain time to quit, without being particularly whipped, but because 
they had fought enough." This remark is characteristic of Grant, who 
did not fight in that way himself. 



368 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

This was certainly one of the most remarkable wars in 
history. Our troops won every pitched battle. Scott 
Ch t r nd ^^^^'checl for two hundred miles and more into 
influence of the enemy's country, and wrested stronghold 
the war. after stronghold from the hands of greatly su- 

perior forces. This war was in marked contrast with the 
War of 1812. Both were party wars ; but in this one the 
generals were fit to command, and the soldiers were thor- 
oughly disciplined and equipped. Many of the generals 
who afterward became prominent in the rebellion obtained 
in Mexico their first practical lessons in military art. 
Ulysses S. Grant and Eobert E. Lee served in subordinate 
positions, both with credit. This war, in more than one 
sense, was the precursor of the civil war. 

The war was not concluded — indeed, was hardly well be- 
gun — before the inevitable slavery question arose in Con- 
gress. In August, 1846, the President asked 
The Wilmot f^^ monev to aid in brinsjins: the war to a close. 

proviso, -^ o o 

It was supposed that the money was to be used 
to buy territory. A bill was introduced into the House ap- 
propriating two million dollars. David AYilmot, a Demo- 
cratic Eepresentative from Pennsylvania, proposed that 
there be added to the bill a proviso that slavery should 
never exist within any territory acquired from Mexico. The 
bill with this proviso passed the House, but did not pass the 
Senate. The same contest between the two houses took 
place the next year ; but the Senate finally won, and an 
appropriation of three million dollars was made without the 
antislavery condition. The " Wilmot proviso " was for sev- 
eral years used as a general phrase — not with special refer- 
ence to the amendment of Wilmot, but to the principle 
which it contained. All who were opposed to the exten- 
sion of slavery were said to be in favor of the "Wilmot 
proviso." 

February 2, 1848, the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo was 
signed, ending the Mexican War, It was ratified by the 



ADMINISTRATION OP POLK— 1845-1849. 359 

Senate the next month. By its terms the United States 
became possessed not only of the disputed territory, which 
The treaty of ^^^^ ^^^^ claimed by Texas, but of a vast ter- 
Guadaloupe ritory to the west as well. The boundary line 
Hidalgo. agreed upon ran up the Rio Grande to the 

southern boundary of New Mexico, thence along the south- 
ern boundary to the western limit of New Mexico, up these 
western limits to the Gila River, thence along that river to 
the Colorado, and from the junction of these two rivers 
followed the line dividing Upper and Lower California to 
the Pacific Ocean.* The United States paid $15,000,000 in 
cash, and agreed to pay in addition claims of its citizens 
on the Mexican Government to an amount not exceeding 
$3,250,000, and other claims already definitely allowed by 
Mexico. A glance at the map will show how much was 
secured by this cession as the fruit of the war. There 
was thus added to the United States about 875,000 square 
miles, including Texas and what is now the State of Cali- 
fornia. 

The result of Polk's aggressive policy, aided by Southern 
zeal and the native land hunger of the nation, was an aston- 
ishing increase of the national domain in the 
Territorial course of four vears. March 4, 1845, the 

expansion, t « i t . 

western boundary of the United States was the 
line of 1819, and we occupied, jointly with Great Britain, 
the Oregon country. In 1848 the republic stretched from 
sea to sea, and as far south as the Rio Grande River. The 
Bay of San Francisco, the coveted harbor of the western 
coast, was in our hands. If we include Oregon in the 
acquisitions of this administration, over 1,000,000 square 

* In 1853, due to the fact that some question had arisen about this 
boundary, and because a proposed route for a railroad to the Pacific 
ran somewliat south of our line at the Gila River, another purchase 
was made from Mexico. This was known as the Gadsden purchase, and 
included 47,330 square miles. The map will show the land so acquired. 
The sura paid was $10,000,000. 



370 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 







'of" 







N 



^ — -^ 

ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY ^ 

IN THE WEST 1803-53 / 

The line marked XY was undetermined 
and in dispute and partly on this account 
the GADSDEN PURCHASE was made 




miles were added to American territory, more than the 
wliole area of the United States when its independence 
was acknowledged by Great Britain.* 

Square miles. Square miles. 

* Texas (1845) 376,163 Austrian Empire 240,942 

First Mexican cession. 545,753 Germany, Prance, and Spain 613,093 

Oregon 284,828 Sweden and Italy 285,383 

1,206,744 MSO^ 



ADMINISTRATION OF POLK— 1845-1849. 371 

The country might well be lifted up as it contemplated 
its greatness and exalted the courage and skill of our 
soldiers in Mexico. But the acquisition of this 
SreMnl^^^ new territory was at once the cause of great 
foreboding and of deep and bitter feeling. 
Territorial expansion was especially in favor at the South, 
and now, even before the war was ended, and before the 
land for which the soldiers were fighting was securely 
wrested from Mexico, the slaveholders saw men at the 
North asserting that slavery should not be admitted into 
any part of the territory acquired. To many at the 
South this seemed like robbing them of the just spoils of 
conquest. 

The people were fully awake to the momentousness of 

the issue. The North was divided. Few were desirous of 

seeing slavery admitted to the new territory ; 

be e^iended? ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^* ^^ sympathy with a policy 
which would rigidly exclude the Southerner 
with his human property, because they believed that the 
question would settle itself, if men would only consent to 
let it alone. Such persons looked upon "agitation" as 
the great evil, because discussion of the slavery question 
angered the South and endangered the Union. Others, an 
increasing number, were now flatly opposed to further ex- 
tension of slavery, and they demanded the principle of the 
Wilmot proviso without qualification and without delay. 
Let us not mistake the situation. It is not true that for 
fifteen years before the civil war a solid North faced a solid 
South. The South naturally was nearly a unit on the 
principle of extending slavery, or at least declared the slave- 
holders' right to move into the new possessions of the nation 
— possessions obtained by the expenditure of national blood 
and treasure. On the other hand. Northern sentiment 
was divided ; only a minority were deeply enough in earnest 
to make opposition to slavery the first and controlling mo- 
tive of political conduct. As the years went by this num- 



372 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

ber grew larger, until something like a solid North faced 
a solid South. It will be our task to watch the phases of 
this movement toward a unity of sentiment at the Xorth.* 
In 1847, General Lewis Cass, then Senator from Michi- 
gan and a leader in the Democratic party, wrote his famous 
T^icholson letter. He had been a prominent 
Popular candidate for the presidential nomination in 

sovereignty. ^ 

1844, and was now mentioned as the standard 
bearer of the party in the ensuing campaign. His letter, 
when published, therefore won attention. It announced a 
new doctrine. It declared that the National Government 
ought not to interfere with the domestic concerns of the 
Territories, and, in short, asserted that the existence of 
slavery was a question with which the people of the Terri- 
tories must deal themselves. He even denied that' Congress 
had the constitutional authority to regulate the internal 
affairs of a Territory. " I do not see in the Constitution 
any grant of the requisite power to Congress ; and I am not 
disposed to extend a doubtful precedent beyond its necessity 
— the establishment of Territorial governments, when needed 
— leaving to the inhabitants all the rights compatible with 
the relation they bear to the Confederation." Thus was 
stated the doctrine later known as "popular sovereignty." 

By the summer of 1848 there were four propositions 
before the country concerning slavery in the territory ac- 
quired from Mexico. (1) That of Calhoun, 
sitions regard- who declared that the territory so acquired 
ing slavery belonged to the States, and that a Southern 
man had as good a right to carry his slave with 
him into the Federal domain as a Northern man had to 
take his sheep or his oxen. (2) ' The doctrine of the Wil- 

* The student must not be confused by details and prevented from 
seeing the main drift and meaning of events. From now on to 1861 
the question ever growing more important was whether or not slavery 
should be hemmed inside its old limits, or be allowed to expand and 
occupy the West. 



ADMINISTRATION OF POLK— 1845-1849. 373 

mot proviso, which declared it to be the moral duty of 
Congress to keep slavery out of the public domain. The 
most ardent advocates of this principle denied that Con- 
gress had the right to legalize slavery in national territory. 
(3) The doctrine of the NicJiolson letter. (4) The exten- 
sion of the line of 36° ^ through to the Pacific as the 
boundary between slavery and freedom. The idea was 
already spread abroad among the Northern people that this 
new West was ill adapted to slave labor ; many therefore 
favored a policy of neglect, hoping thereby to soothe the 
South, whose peculiar institution would be driven from the 
region by Nature herself, whose laws were stronger than any 
enactments of men. Persons holding this idea were likely 
to support either the third or the fourth of the propositions 
just given. 

As the presidential campaign approached the Demo- 
cratic party found itself divided. Especially in New York 
there were differences. With these the slaverv 
question had much to do. One faction was 
called the " Old Hunkers," the other the " Barnburners." * 
The latter faction was personally devoted to Van Buren, 
and expressed its " uncompromising hostility to the exten- 
sion of slavery into territory now free." The Hunkers were 
opposed to a statement of principle. The National Demo- 
cratic Convention nominated Cass for the presidency, and 
William 0. Butler, of Kentucky, for the vice-presidency. 
A platform was adopted full of safe sayings, but not defi- 
nitely committing the party on the slavery question. 

The Whigs, too, were not united. In the East there 
were " Conscience Whigs " and " Cotton Whigs." In the 
Northwest there was a strong antislavery ele- 
^^^' ment. The leaders of the party at large, how- 
ever, were desirous of avoiding the dread issue, and the con- 
vention, when it met, firmly held its peace on the great 

* For the origin of these names see Shephard's Van Buren, p. 354; 
McLaughlin's Cass, p. 237. 



374 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

question which everybody knew was in everybody's thoughts. 
Clay was still popular, but many feared his candidacy. 
Following the example of 1840, General Taylor was put 
in nomination. Millard Fillmore, of New York, was nom- 
inated for Vice-President. These nominations meant noth- 
ing, except that the Whigs did not dare to announce prin- 
ciples, but hoped for success by mere dint of shouting for 
" Old Eough and Eeady," as Taylor was called. 

The antislavery Whigs had hoped for an antislavery 
platform, and when they found the party ready to hide 
itself behind a popular name they declared 
The Free- ^^^^^ ^}^gy would not be bound by party ties. 

The Barnburners and other dissatisfied Demo- 
crats were likewise aroused and ready for independent 
action. In August a convention at Buffalo nominated Mar- 
tin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams. This was the 
beginning of the Free-soil party. The Liberty party coa- 
lesced with it. It was devoted, without shadow of turning, 
to the principle of free soil. " Congress," it declared, " has 
no more right to make a slave than to make a king." 
" Thunders of applause " are said to have followed the read- 
ing from the platform of such sentences as this : " Eesolved, 
that we inscribe on our banner free soil, free speech, free 
labor, and free men, and under it we will fight on and fight 
ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions." 
The great revolt at the North against slavery extension was 
fairly begun. 

Thus there were three candidates in the field. Two of 
the parties refused to express definite opinions on the slav- 
ery question ; but one of them nominated a slave owner, 
and the other chose as its leader the man who had given 
out his belief that Congress could not legislate on the sub- 
ject of slavery in the Territories. Taylor and Fillmore 
were elected. The Free-soilers cast over two hundred and 
ninety thousand votes, and held the balance of power in 
some of the Northern States. Although both of the old 



ADMINISTRATION OF TAYLOR— 1849-1850. 



37 



parties blinded their eyes to the great problem, it remained 
to be solved, and could not be escaped. Moreover, there 
were tens of thousands of men at the North that were now 
insisting that it must be solved by a recognition of principle. 

References. 

The best short accounts are in Wilson, Division and Reunion, 
pp. 145-160; Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume IV, pp. 
3G8-387; Roosevelt, Thomas H. Benton, pp. 317-340; Sohurz, Henry 
Clay, Volume II, pp. 268-315; Blaine, Twenty Years in Congress, 
Volume I, pp. 41-86; Von Hoist, John C. Calhoun, p. 260-335. 
Longer accounts: Schouler, History, Volume IV, pp. 495-550, Vol- 
ume V, pp. 1-128; Garrison, Texas. 



ADMINISTRATION OF ZACHARY TAYLOR AND MILLARD 
FILLMORE— 1849-1853. 

General Taylor's life up to the time of his election 

to the presidency had been spent in large measure as a 

soldier in the ._ 

Zachary Taylor. ^ 

" ^ regular army. 

He owned a plantation in 
Louisiana and several hun- 
dred slaves. He was an hon- 
est, straightforward man, 
free from all pretense, with 
a soldierly devotion to duty, 
and with a very clear sense 
of right and justice. In 
political experience he was 
totally lacking, and his 
knowledge of public men 
and events was necessarily 
limited. He is said to have 
supposed, until a short time 
before his arrival at Wash- 
ington to assume office, that the Vice-President was ex-officio 




■p:^t^C^C::<^7^p/^^^ 



376 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

a member of his Cabinet. Spite of his unfamiliarity with 
the formalities and duties of his position, his frankness 
and honesty did not iU fit him for the presidency in the try- 
ing days that were before the people. Slaveholder as he 
was, he could see no reason for doing aught to fasten slav- 
ery on regions where the inhabitants did not want it, and 
he could be relied upon to act with what seemed to him 
complete fairness. 

During Polk's administration the balance between South- 
ern and Northern States had been preserved. Florida was 
iidmitted in 1845, and Iowa in 1846. The ad- 
mission of Texas was offset by the entrance of 
Wisconsin into the Union in 1848. In the summer of that 
year Oregon was established as a Territory. The act of 
establishment forbade slavery or involuntary servitude within 
the territorial limits. Save as the laws of Mexico were 
recognized or military rule might be enforced, 
poblfm.^* the Territory acquired from Mexico as the 

result of the war was still without legal organi- 
zation. It was necessary for Congress to act at once. 

California presented peculiar difficulties. In 1848 gold 

was discovered there. This discovery soon made a deep 

impression on the minds of the Eastern peo- 

clffo^ ' P^®' ^^^ ^^ ^^"^^ ^ great migration to the new 

gold coast set in. Thousands and tens of thou- 
sands left their homes in the East to hunt for riches. Long 
trains of wagons started on the weary journey over the 
Western prairies. Every sort of ocean craft was pressed 
into service that the eager crowds might be carried " around 
the Horn " or landed at the Isthmus of Panama, to make 
their way across as best they might. Lawyers, ministers, 
school-teachers, mechanics, men from all walks of life, old 
and young, hastened away to the gold fields to make their 
fortunes in a day. The population of California grew with 
astounding rapidity. Something like eighty thousand 
persons arrived there in a single year. San Francisco 



ADMINISTRATION OF TAYLOR— 1849-1850. S71 

clianged from a hamlet to a city in a twelvemonth. The 
mad race for the gold diggings brought together a motley- 
crowd. There was no law save the rough code of the min- 
ing camp. The whole territory was on the very verge of 
anarchy ; but there was underneath it all a strong senti- 
ment of order. 

These people, thus quickly swept together into a com- 
munity without law, showed in the end rare talent for 
. organization. In September, 1849, delegates 

adopts a met in convention, adopted a State Constitu- 

Constitution. tion, and prepared to seek admission into the 
Union. A clause prohibiting slavery was adopted without 
difficulty. The people ratified the Constitution, and elected 
State officers and members of Congress. 

When Congress met, therefore, in December, 1849, seri- 
ous problems demanded immediate solution. (1) California, 
with a free Constitution, claimed immediate 
Serious admission into the Union. Such admission 

proDlems. 

was strongly opposed by the South, for it would 
destroy the balance between the States, because there was no 
slave State ready for entrance, nor was there likely to be 
for some time to come. (2) Some sort of Territorial govern- 
ment must be established in the rest of the land obtained 
from Mexico, and it must be decided whether slavery should 
be recognized there or not. (3) Moreover, there was a con- 
test between Texas and the people of the old Mexican prov- 
ince of New Mexico. Texas, it will be remembered, seceded 
from Mexico, claiming all land north and east of the Eio 
Grande Eiver. But the province of New Mexico had in 
reality extended considerably to the east of this river, and 
the Texans had never succeeded in making good their claim 
to this region. The people of New Mexico objected to hav- 
ing their province divided and the eastern portion of it 
embraced in the State of Texas. This contest Congress was 
called upon to settle. (4) In addition to all of these difficul- 
ties, slavery presented others. The Northerners were, year 
26 



378 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

by year, more hostile to the whole institution, and the ex- 
istence of slavery in the District of Columbia was especially 
irritating. Slaves were bought and sold within sight of the 
Capitol, and this seemed to Northern sentiment a disgrace 
no longer to be borne. (5) Many desired also the suppression 
of the trade in slaves between the States, as clearly within 
the power of the United States Government. (6) The South- 
erners, resenting any interference with the traffic in slaves, 
made serious charges against the North ; they charged all 
the North with the sins of abolitionism ; they demanded a 
more stringent fugitive slave law, in order that they might 
thus recover the hundreds of slaves that yearly escaped and 
made their way to the North. 

Through the winter of 1849-'50 the feeling was intense. 

Southern men felt that they were now struggling for a last 

hope. Texas, with its wide prairies, was in- 

The Umon deed theirs, but it now seemed possible that 

m danger, ' '■ 

slavery would be shut out of the Mexican ces- 
sion, because even the people of New Mexico did not wish 
it. The Virginia Legislature passed resolutions declaring 
that the adoption and attempted enforcement of the Wil- 
mot proviso would leave to the people but two courses : one, 
of " abject submission to aggression and outrage " ; the other, 
" determined resistance at all hazards and to the last ex- 
tremity." All over the South these sentiments were ap- 
plauded. The Union seemed to be in danger, for the South 
was exasperated and utterly in earnest. " All now is up- 
roar," wrote Clay, " confusion, and menace to the existence 
of the Union and to the happiness and safety of the people, " 
To the task of quieting the storm and of saving the 
Union, Clay now applied himself. He hoped that each sec- 
^ , tion mie^ht be brought to yield a portion of its 

Clay's compro- . ° o j r 

mise measures, claims and that peace could be secured by com- 
1860. promise. No one was better fitted for the task 

than he. He was a slave owner, but he had no great love 
for slavery. He knew Southern life and passions, but he 



ADMINISTRATION OF TAYLOR— 1849-1850. 379 

knew Northern life and prejudices quite as well. His popu- 
larity was great, for his sympathies were wide and deep, 
and for forty years he had stood before the people as a 
faithful representative of American ideas. He introduced 
into the Senate, in January, a series of resolutions dealing 
with the subjects of controversy. He proposed, among other 
things, (1) to admit California ; (2) to establish Territories 
without saying anything about slavery ; (3) to pass a fugi- 
tive slave law; (4) to pay Texas to give up her claim in 
New Mexico ; (5) to declare that it was inexpedient to abol- 
ish slavery in the District of Columbia, but (6) to abolish 
the slave trade there. 

These resolutions were the subjects of discussion for 
months. All through the summer of 1850 North and South 
anxiously watched the movements of Congress. 
The Senate was the chief arena of debate. Great 
speeches were made by Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Seward, 
and others. Webster greatly disappointed thousands of his 
^ , , Northern admirers by supporting the compro- 

7th of March mise, and declaring that slavery need not be 
speech. excluded by law from the new Western Terri- 

tories, because it was excluded by a law superior to legisla- 
tive enactment : " I mean the law of Nature, of physical 
geography, the law of the formation of the earth." He de- 
clared that antislavery agitation was useless and danger- 
ous, and he even censured the North for harboring runaway 
slaves. It was believed by many that he spoke these words 
in hope of securing the presidency. If he did, he was 
sadly mistaken, for from that time, although Northern con- 
fidence seemed temporarily to be given him again, his great 
power of leadership was gone. 

Calhoun was at tlie point of death and unable to deliver 
the speech he had prepared. It was therefore read for him. 
If one wishes to know the feeling of the South that finally 
led to secession and civil war, one should study this speech. 
To Calhoun the nation seemed clearly divided into two 



380 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Calhoun's 
position, 



distinct sections ; if the Northern one insisted on over- 
turning the balance between the two, the interests of the 
South would be endangered and slavery would 
not be safe ; the only way in which the Union 
could be preserved was by carefully maintaining 
this balance and by the complete recognition of sectional 
differences and interests. To the Western Territories the 
Southerner must be allowed to go with his slaves as freely 
as the Northern man with his cattle ; slavery must not be 

discriminated against, but 
protected by the power of the 
National Government. 

Seward made the greatest 
speech of these debates, be- 
cause he fully represented 
the best Northern sentiment 
concerning slavery; because 
he represented the sentiment 
that was to become the dom- 
inant power in the nation. 
He declared that slavery must 
go no further. He warned 
the South that every effort to 
extend slavery or to fasten 
its hold upon the country 
would only hasten the day 
of emancipation, because this 
land must be free, and the forces of economy, the forces of 
civilization, were fighting the battles of freedom. " The 
question of dissolving the Union is a complex question : it 
embraces the fearful issue whether the Union 
Seward's shall stand, and slavery, under the steady, 

peaceful action of moral, social, and political 
causes, be removed by gradual voluntary effort and with 
compensation ; or whether the Union shall be dissolved and 
civil war ensue, bringing on violent but complete and im- 




^£1^ /HL,..-.^. 



ADMINISTRATION OF TAYLOR— 1849-1850. 381 

mediate emancipation." * How much misery and woe 
migiit have been avoided had the South listened to Seward's 
warning in 1850 ! 

Not till September were all parts of the compromise 
passed. It agreed substantially with Clay's scheme. (1) 

The boundary between Texas and New Mexico 
The compromise ^^^ established, and Texas was paid ten mil- 

lion dollars for giving up her claims. (2) Cali- 
fornia was admitted as a free State. (3) New Mexico and 
Utah were given Territorial governments without restric- 
tion as to slavery. (4) A law was passed to provide for the 
arrest and return of fugitive slaves. (5) The slave trade in 
the District of Columbia was abolished. On the whole, it 
was received favorably by both sections of the country. 
The people were relieved from the high excitement under 
which they had been living for two or three years. Another 
crisis seemed passed in safety, and men breathed more 
freely. 

The part of this compromise that was most disliked by 
the North, and that eventually caused greatest trouble, was 

the fugitive slave law. This was a very severe 
The fugitive measure. A ne^ro claimed as a runaway slave 

had no right to a trial by jury, could give no 
evidence in his own behalf, and was altogether without 
chance of escape. The trial might be before a commis- 
sioner instead of a court, and it was the commissioner's duty 
to hear and determine the case of a claimant in a summary 
manner. Whether the negro was a person or a thing was 
decided with less formality than in a suit at common law 
before the Federal courts where over twenty dollars were 

* Seward at this time also said that " there is a higher law than the 
Constitution which regulates our authority," etc. For this " higher-law 
doctrine " he and his followers were bitterly attacked, on the ground 
that they sought to overthrow the Constitution for mere sentiment. 
But he spoke plain truth ; the Constitution itself could not resist the 
moral forces of the nation. 



382 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

involved. The passage of this act was in many parts of the 
North keenly resented, but time was needed to disclose all 
its awful meaning. In the course of the next few years 
Northern sentiment against slavery was aroused to a new 
pitch by efforts to enforce the law, for it brought home be- 
fore the very eyes of the people some of the most odious 
aspects of slavery. It helped to intensify hatred of the 
whole barbarous system, and to bring about a nearer ap- 
proach to unity of thought and feeling. Throughout the 
North were many colored people, who had either escaped 
from service in years gone by or been born in freedom; 
they could now be seized on the mere presentation of an 
affidavit made by an alleged owner, and they might be 
dragged away into bondage after a hasty trial. Eiots and 
rescues became not infrequent, and some of them aroused 
the interest of the whole country. This part of the com- 
promise, therefore, did not allay ill feeling, but in the end 
made it more intense and bitter. 

While the compromise was under discussion President 
Taylor died (July 9, 1850). His death brought deep sor- 
row to the nation. The people of the North 
Death of p^-^j ^^^ tribute of mourning to the honest sol- 

dier, who seemed to have forgotten sectional 
prejudices in his love of country. "I never saw," wrote 
Seward, " public grief so universal and so profound." 

Mr. Fillmore immediately assumed the presidency. He 
was not a great man, but of good ability and with some 
experience in political affairs. His cast of mind 
^}^^^^ led him to be, on the whole, conservative and 

careful. His past showed that he had anti- 
slavery convictions, but he threw his influence in favor of 
the compromise while it was under discussion, and endeav- 
ored to see it fully carried out after it was passed. The 
Cabinet was reorganized. Webster became Secretary of 
State, and to a great extent directed the policy of the ad- 
ministration. 



ADMINISTRATION OF FILLMORE— 1850-1853. 383 

In the midst of all the excitement on the slavery ques- 
tion the country had been growing in wealth, in strength, 
and in population. In 1840 the census showed 
Growth in about seventeen million people. In 1850 there 

population, . . 

were twenty-three million. This increase was 
due in large part to the great influx of European immi- 
grants, who in this decade came to America in large num- 
bers. The Irish and Germans were especially numerous. 
Of the former nearly one hundred and sixty thousand came 
in a single year. After the great popular uprisings in Eu- 
rope in 1848 — uprisings in behalf of greater political free- 
dom — thousands moved to America either to escape pun 
ishment, or, despairing of brighter days at home, to seek 
prosperity in a land whose institutions seemed reasonable 
and just. All of these newcomers found homes either in 
the N^orthern cities or on the farms of the new Northwest. 
To the South they would not go, because they came to work, 
while beyond Mason and Dixon's line work was left to 
slaves and labor was considered degrading. They came^ 
too, without local or sectional prejudices, and thus added to 
the nationalizing forces and stimulated the national spirit. 

In this decade of political excitement the inventive 
spirit of America had not slumbered. Among the most 
important inventions was the rotary printing 
press, by which the process of printing became 
amazingly rapid. The result was the cheapening of books 
and newspapers and consequent widening of educational 
opportunities. The sewing machine, too, was invented, and 
the result of this invention was not simply to lessen the 
drudgery of the household, but to reduce the work on all 
articles of clothing, and thus to make them cheaper and 
more attainable by the poor. About this same time a 
patent was secured for the manufacture of rubber goods. 
The value of the discovery was so great that this industry 
assumed large proportions at once. In 1850 over three 
million dollars' worth of rubber goods were made in the 



384 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATIOK 

United States. In trade and commerce the United States 
was now one of the first nations of the world. " I can 
never think of America," wrote Leigh Hunt at one time, 
" without seeing a gigantic counter stretched all along the 
seaboard." 

The shipping interests had recently developed greatly. 
Steam vessels were taking the place of the old sailing ves- 
sels on the ocean, as they had already sup- 
SteSl planted the flatboats on the rivers. Steamships 

now made the passage across the Atlantic in 
about ten days. The wealth of the nation was increasing 
rapidly in spite of the forebodings of those who feared slav- 
ery and its blighting influence. Men looked hopefully 
forward to an immense material development. In this they 
were not mistaken. The decade from 1850 to 1860 was one 
of progress. Before its end America had actually out- 
stripped England in the tonnage of its merchant marine. 

The compromise of 1850 was quite generally acquiesced 
in. Some men continued to denounce it, but the first two 

Acquiescence ^^ *^^^^® ^^^^^ ^^*^^ ^*^ passage were years of 
in the comparative quiet, and the members of both 

compromise. ^^^ ^^^ ^^^.^^33 ^-^^ ^-^j^ ^^^^^ ^^j^^^. ^^ ^^^^^^_ 

ing their attachment to it. Occasionally the fugitive slave 
law was openly violated, or men gave utterance to their feel- 
ings in ringing denunciations ; but on the whole it seemed 
to the majority that it was now only necessary to decry 
" agitation " and to assert unwavering obedience and re- 
spect for the great compromises. 

In the spring of 185^ Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin 
was published. The book holds a high place in our litera- 
ture, not because its language is especially ar- 
Cabin. °°^ ^ tistic, but because it pictures a situation with 
power and is the frank utterance of impassioned 
belief. But it is more than a piece of literature in the or- 
dinary sense; it is a great political pamphlet. The sales 
of the book were enormous. In Europe and America hun- 



ADMINISTRATION OF FILLMORE— 1850-1853. 385 

dreds of thousands of copies were sold. Its effect in awak- 
ening antislavery feeling was great. Rufus Choate is re- 
ported to have said, " That book will make two millions of 
abolitionists " ; and Garrison wrote to Mrs. Stowe, " All the 
defenders of slavery have left me alone and are abusing 
you." 

The Democratic party nominated Franklin Pierce, of 
New Hampshire, and William R. King, of Alabama, as their 

candidates. The Whigs nominated General 
1852!''*'''''^ Winfield Scott, of Virginia, and William A. 

Graham, of North Carolina. Both parties fa- 
vored the compromise, and declared that it was a final settle- 
ment of the slavery question. The Free-soilers nominated 
John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, and George W. Julian, of 
Indiana. They wittily characterized the old parties as the 
"Whig and Democratic Wings of the great Compromise 
Party of the Nation." Their principles were set forth in 
the phrase, " Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men." 
The election resulted in a victory for the Democrats so 
complete that the Whigs were overwhelmed. Scott carried 
only four States and received only forty-two electoral votes. 
Though his party had humbled itself and bowed down be- 
fore the compromise, and refused to yield to its oivn 
better impulses, it could not win the Southern vote. 

This was the end of the Whig party. Four years later 
>«^ few men still clung to the name and tried to believe their 

party was not gone, but to no avail. It was 
foSri'^^ said to have " died of an attempt to swallow the 

fugitive slave law." Before the next election, 
as we shall see, the slavery question acsumed new forms and 
took on enormous proportions. The Whig party had to be 
dissolved that a new party might take its place, ready to 
act upon principle in opposition to slavery extension. More- 
over the old stalwart leaders that had controlled Whig 
counsels for a generation were now passed away. Webster 
and Clay died in 1852, and the Northern men that could 



386 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

have taken their places were opponents of slavery. In- 
deed, we now find new men, and a fair field for new forces. 
Salmon P. Chase, Seward, and Charles Sumner became the 
giants of the arena, and they were unrelenting foes of slav^ 
ery. The South, too, had men thoroughly devoted to its 
peculiar interests, its most able and fearless champion, after 
the death of Calhoun, being Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi. 
Though men might blind their eyes to it, the contest was 
narrowing down to a contest between the North and the 
South. The bright, able young men of the North, the men 
of the next twenty years of action, were prepared to cast 
away old party ties and vote for principle, while the South 
would support none but men fully devoted to its interests. 

References. 

Short accounts in Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 161-179; 
Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume IV, pp. 387-402; Gree- 
ley, American Conflict, Volume I, pp. 198-210; Burgess, Middle 
Period, pp. 340-365; Von Hoist, John C. Calhoun, pp. 310-352. 
Longer accounts : Schouler, History,Volume V, pp. 129-267; Rhodes, 
History of the United States, Volume I, pp. 99-384 ; Schurz, Henry 
Clay, pp. 315-414 ; Lodge, Daniel Webster, Chapters IX and X. 



ADMINISTRATION OF FRANKLIN PIERCE— 1853-1857. 

The new President was not a great statesman. He had 
been a consistent Democrat, but no one could foresee what 

his career as President would be. Indeed, he 
Franklin j^^^ heen nominated by the Democrats partly 

because they desired a colorless candidate. He 
was a man of some ability, a good lawyer, and a fine speaker. 
He had both civil and military experience, having been in 
the House and the Senate, and having served as a brigadier 
general in the Mexican War. The Vice-President, King, 
never assumed the duties of office. He died about a month 
after the inauguration. Pierce made William L. Marcy 



ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE— 1853-1857. 38t 

Secretary of State, an able, clear-headed man, who per- 
formed his duties with unusual skill. Jefferson Davis, of 
Mississippi, became Secretary of War. The Cabinet was on 
the whole a strong one. 

Southern ambition was fired in these days with the hope 

of winning new territory in the regions of the South. 

Cuba and Central America, both suitable for 

Expansion of n • i t i i • i 

American slavery, were alluringly near, and both might 

territory. i^g acquired by a little effort. How widely 

hopes of conquests in that direction were entertained 
at the South one can not say. Certain it is that many 
were intent upon extending slavery, and hoped to gain 
strength for slavery by the acquisition of new territory. 
But zeal for the annexation of Cuba was not confined to 
Southern politicians. There was prevalent at the time a 
bold belief in the doctrine of " manifest destiny," a belief 
that we as a nation were called upon to extend the sphere 
of our wholesome influence, to gather in new lands that we 
might do our great duty in elevating man. This sentiment 
is well expressed in the words of Edward Everett, who dur- 
ing the last few months of Fillmore's administration was 
Secretary of State : " Every addition to the territory of the 
American Union has given homes to European destitution 
and gardens to European want." 

Marcy himself seems to have been anxious for the an- 
nexation of Cuba. In 1854, at his suggestion, the American 

ministers to England, France, and Spain — 
manifesto. James Buchanan, John Y. Mason, Pierre Soule 

— met and consulted upon the prospects of ac- 
quiring this island. They drew up a paper which has since 
borne the name of the " Ostend manifesto," from the place 
where the first consultations were held. This is a remark- 
able document. It declared that the "Union can never 
enjoy repose nor possess reliable security as long as Cuba is 
not embraced within its boundaries." It suggested, in 
hardly mistakable language, that the United States would 



388 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

be justified in seizing the coveted spot if Spain refused to 
sell it. " We should be recreant to our duty, be unworthy 
of our gallant forefathers, and commit base treason against 
our posterity, should we permit Cuba to be Africanized and 
become a second St. Domingo, with all its attendant horrors 
to the white race, and suffer the flames to extend to our own 
neighboring shores, seriously to endanger or actually to 
consume the fair fabric of our Union." The Government 
did not directly sanction this extraordinary paper. Marcy 
directly disapproved of it; but when it was published it 
startled the world. Men at the North wondered if our 
nation was in such a plight that three of our foreign diplo- 
mats dared openly proclaim that we must seize an island, 
lest its inhabitants become free. 

The Democrats, highly successful in the campaign of 

1852, took office the next year with elation and confidence. 

They had proclaimed loudly the sanctity of the 

The slavery compromise, and men hoped and believed that 

question again. ^, . t„ -, , . ,i • « ,t, 

the dreadful slavery issue was a thing oi the 
past. But hardly had the new Congress assumed its duties 
when the storm burst again with renewed fury. It was 
proposed to form a new Territory in the land west of Iowa 
and Missouri, part of the Louisiana purchase. From all of 
this country north of 36° 30' slavery was excluded by the 
express terms of the Missouri compromise. The minds of 
the Northern people had long rested in calm assurance that 
this portion of the national domain was destined for free- 
dom. It was protected by a law of over thirty years' stand- 
ing, and both of the great parties had avowed their faith 
and allegiance to it. 

In January, 1854, the Senate began the consideration of 
a measure for organizing a Territory in this region. Senator 
Dixon, of Kentucky, who was filling the unexpired term 
of Henry Clay, offered an amendment repealing so much 
of the Missouri compromise as restricted the extension of 
slavery. A few days later. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, 



ADMINISTRATION OF PIEECE— 1853-1857. 389 

from Illinois, brought in a new bill providing for two Ter- 
ritories, Kansas and Nebraska, and for the repeal of the 
slavery restriction of the famous compromise on 

The Kansas- ^Yiq. orround that it was " superseded by the prin- 
NebrasKa act. * J- . 

ciples of the legislation of 1850." The policy of 
" non-intervention," which was said to be the basis of the 
act of 1850, was now to be adopted as a principle in the 
organization of the new Territories. It was declared that 
the intention of the act was " not to legislate slavery into 
any Territory or State, nor exclude it therefrom ; but to 
leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate 
their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only 
to the Constitution of the United States." 

The bill was debated long and bitterly. Chase, Seward, 
and Sumner made great speeches, attacking slavery and 
charging the South with breach of faith. 
Douglas defended the measure with his usual 
skill and vigor. He was powerful in debate. His language 
was not elegant and his manner was coarse, but he spoke 
with such vehemence, with such consummate shrewdness and 
adroitness, that he was one of the greatest debaters that ever 
spoke in Congress. He declared that the compromise of 
1850 contained a principle ; that the principle was wise and 
constitutionally sound ; that in order to quiet the slavery 
agitation forever this principle should be applied to all of 
the Territories. 

It is not perfectly clear that the "non-intervention" 
policy of 1850 was the same as the doctrine of "popular 
sovereignty," nor was it made absolutely evi- 
bm me^i^?^^ dent that under this Kansas-Nebraska act, pur- 
porting to be based on the principle of 1850, 
the people of the Territories themselves could, after organi- 
zation, either admit or exclude slavery as they chose. But 
Cass and Douglas, and other Northern Democrats that voted 
for the bill, seem to have believed that it recognized " popu- 
j! lar sovereignty " ; and if it did, then the people of the ne\^ 






390 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Territories could settle the matter for themselves. The 
Southern people later denied that either the compromise of 
1850 or the Kansas-J^ebraska bill meant anything but this 
— that they should be allowed to go into the Territories 
with their slaves without " intervention " from anybodyy 
either from the Territory or the National Government. 




THE WESTERN TERRITOEIES 
in 1854 

AFTER THE PASSAGE OF 
THE KANSAS -NEBRASKA BILL 



m£L 



The bill was passed by Congress in May, 1854. The 
people of the North were roused to intense excitement dur- 
ing the whole period of this discussion. As 
Effect of the long as slavery was more or less limited by the 
compromise restriction and there existed a sort 
of balance between the sections, which men persuaded them- 
selves was the natural and constitutional condition, ther^ 



ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE— 1853-1857. 391 

was something like quiet and composure ; but now, as they 
saw these old restrictions cast aside and the prairies of the 
great West opened to slave labor on an equal footing with 
free, there was deep indignation in the hearts of many who 
had hitherto belonged to the conservative classes and had 
deprecated agitation and excitement. Congressmen that 
voted for the measure had difficulty in justifying them- 
selves before their constituents. Douglas was for the time 
being bitterly denounced. " I could then travel," he said 
at a later day, " from Boston to Chicago by the light of my 
own effigies." Some ardent foes of slavery were indeed 
elated ; they felt that now the real contest was begun ; they 
felt, too, that the bad faith of the slaveholders was so clearly 
shown that no further compromise of principle was possible. 
/ " This seems to me," exclaimed Seward, " auspicious of bet- 
ter days and better and wiser legislation. Through all the 
darkness and gloom of the present hour bright stars are 
breaking, that inspire me with hope and excite me to per- 
severance." 
\^ The time was ripe for the formation of a party out- 
spoken in its opposition to the extension of slavery into the 
Territories. Early in the winter, when Doug- 
'^art^'^''^^''^'' las introduced his bill, an address signed by 
I Chase, Sumner, and other antislavery leaders, 

was published in the newspapers, denouncing the Kansas- 
' Nebraska bill as " a gross violation of a sacred pledge, as a 
criminal betrayal of precious rights, as part and parcel of 
an atrocious plot to exclude from a vast region immigrants 
from the Old World and free laborers from our own States, 
vand convert it into a dreary region of despotism inhabited 
; by masters and slaves." These words expressed the senti- 
i ment of many Northern people. The Free-soilers were 
, still in existence, but the party had never been a popular 
\\ one. All the antislavery elements were now fused into 
a new party. The movement was felt everywhere in the 
North, but the first active steps toward organization were 



392 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

taken in the Northwest, where the people were not bound 
by commercial ties to the South, and where, less conserva- 
tive by nature than the men of the East, they were readier 
to cast aside old party bonds and take on new ones. Jn 
Michigan a State convention was called of those, " without 
reference to former political associations, who think the 
time has arrived for union at the North to protect liberty 
from being overthrown and downtrodden." This conven- 
tion nominated a full State ticket, and chris- 
^ ^ ' ' tened the new party " Kepublican." Like ac- 
tion was taken in several other States, but the new name 
was not adopted in all of them. The principles of the party 
were unmistakable ; its chief aim was " resistance to the en- 
croachment of slavery." 

The elements that were brought into the new party were 

various. It absorbed all the Free-soilers, many of whom 

had been Democrats; it took in also a great 

Its character number of the Whiffs — those who, realizing^ 

and snccess. ^ ° 

that their party had nothing left to it but a 

name and a remembrance, were ready to co-operate boldly 
against slavery. The so-called anti-Nebraska Democrats 
also joined the Eepublicans. Thus the party was a com- 
posite one, but it was guided by a very definite purpose. 
Its tendencies were toward a broad and liberal construction 
of the Constitution, and opposition to the doctrine of State 
sovereignty. The success of the movement was surprising. 
In the fall election of 1854 the opponents of " Nebraska " 
carried every State of the old Northwest, and their success 
in the East was not slight. 

About this time still another party arose, and for a time 
assumed large proportions. This was the " Native-Ameri- 
can " or " Know-Nothing " party. It was a 

?® >T XV secret orsranization, devoted primarily to the 
Know-Nothings. -, . ^ ^ . , .,. ^ 

exclusion oi loreign-born citizens, and espe- 
cially Roman Catholics, from the suffrage, or at least from 
public office. It took its popular name from the fact that, 



ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE— 1853-1857. 393 

if any of its members were questioned concerning its object 
and methods, their answer was " I don't know." The great 
influx of immigrants had startled many people. They be- 
lieved that the presence of so many foreigners was a menace 
to our institutions. Some men were persuaded that the 
Roman Catholic Church was secretly plotting for political 
influence. The watchword of the new party was " America 
for Americans." Probably its members were honestly de- 
luded by the belief that it had a duty to perform ; but it 
can hardly be doubted that many joined the organization 
because they longed for another issue than the dreadful 
slavery question. For a year or two the new party was so 
strong that it ran a not uneven race with the Republicans. 
But after 1856 its power dwindled rapidly. It could have 
no lasting vigor. Its secret methods were out of place in a 
free country, where, as it was well said, " every man ought 
to have his principles written on his forehead." 

The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill had other con- 
sequences than the formation of the Republican party.* 
Popular Popular sovereignty, reduced to its lowest 

sovereignty in terms, meant but this : a contest of strength 
practice. between North and South, between slavery and 

freedom. That section must win that had the greater vigor. 
If the JSTorth could pour more men into the Territories than 
the South could, their destiny was secure. Both sections 
now prepared for the struggle. Emigrants from the South- 
ern States made their way into Kansas, and the people of 
the neighboring State of Missouri were ready to move across 

* One should notice through these years some of the more striking 
efforts to rescue slaves taken at the North under the fugitive slave law. 
Read in the Atlantic Monthly, March, 1897, the thrilling account given 
by Mr. Iligginson of the attempt to rescue Burns. The situation was 
dramatic. A descendant of the first minister of Massachusetts Bay and 
a negro, side by side, battered with a beam the door behind which the 
fugitive slave was imprisoned. When such a scene could be enacted, 
open conflict could not be long postponed. 
27 



394 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

the border, if only temporarily, in order to carry an election. 
From the North, too, came men by the thousand, many of 
them to seek new homes, many of them in search of excite- 
ment, or bent on holding Kansas against the inrushing tide 
of slavery. In this great contest the free States had the 
advantage. Their population was now considerably larger 
than that of the slave States, and was yearly increased by 
immigrants from Europe. Moreover, the Southern slave 
owner could not at a moment's warning abandon his planta- 
tion and transport his band of retainers to the West ; and 
even if he wished to do so, he hesitated to move to a Terri- 
tory where there was a chance of losing his property in his 
slaves. But above all, the North was now in every way the 
more powerful section. Slavery had cast its blight upon 
the South. In this struggle for Kansas, the greater conflict 
between the two sections that was to arise within a few 
years was fairly shown forth. The South was defeated be- 
cause it was weak ; because its ruling institution did not 
endow it with actual vigor ; because it could not maintain 
itself against the superior wealth and power of the free 
States. 

At first the proslavery element was successful in Kansas. 
In the autumn of 1854 they elected a delegate to Congress, 

and the next spring elected a Legislature fa- 
The struggle yorable to slavery. The Free-State men charged 

that the election was carried by fraud and in- 
timidation ; that residents of Missouri had swarmed over the 
border only to vote, returning at once to their own State. 
The Legislature thus elected took steps to make Kansas a 
slave Territory, and passed a severe code of laws for the 
protection of slavery. This government was not recognized 
as legitimate by its opponents, and the Northern men pro- 
ceeded to ignore it. They met in convention at Topeka 
and formed a State Constitution, under which they sought 
admittance to the Union. They even elected officers under 
this instrument. There were thus two authorities in the 



ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE— 1853-1857. 395 

Territory, one a proslavery goyernment, the other an anti- 
slavery government pretending to have power under a State 
Constitution. The National Government refused to recog- 
nize this Constitution or the officers acting under it, and 
the President ordered the Federal troops to dismiss the 
Free-State Legislature when it assembled. 

For about two years the history of Kansas was a history 

of violence and disorder. Civil war broke out. Men were 

shot ; towns were sacked. The whole Territory 

Bleeding ^,^g -j^ ^^ state of anarchy. Kobbery and deeds 

Kansas. "^ . 

of brutality were constant. ** Which faction 
surpassed the other in violence it would be hard to say." * 
Men from the North and men from the South seemed to 
lose all sense of their common humanity. It was estimated 
that from November 1, 1855, to December 1, 1856, about 
two hundred persons were killed, and property worth not 
less than two million dollars destroyed in the Territory. 
"Bleeding Kansas" became a watchword at the North;* 
and indeed this awful condition was a sad commentary on 
the policy of " popular sovereignty." 

The Kansas question was of course hotly discussed in 
Congress. In these trying times men forgot the decorum 

of debate and talked with savage earnestness. 

SuSer ""^"^ ^^ ^^y' ^^^^' Charles Sumner made his great 
speech on the Crime against Kansas. He was 
a powerful and polished orator ; and now his soul was 
lifted up within him, for he hated slavery with a deadly 
hatred. His speech was a furious attack upon the slave- 
holders, and was, beyond question, needlessly sharp and 
severe, f He spoke with special severity of Senator Butler, 

* This quotation is from Spring's Kansas, a very interesting book. 
Chapters vi-x give a vivid picture of the horrors of the time. 

f It is not meant that the attack on slavery was too severe, but the 
attack on the slaveholders was. The great Lincoln always spoke of 
the Southern man with compassion, while he spoke of slavery with 
loathing and sorrow. 



396 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



of South Carolina. Preston S. Brooks, a representative 
from that State and a kinsman of the Senator, determined 
to take revenge. A day or two later, after the Senate had 
adjourned. Brooks entered the Senate Chamber and found 

Sumner busy at his desk, his 
head bent low over his work. 
He made the most of his op- 
portunity, striking Sumner 
over the head with a walking 
stick and so seriously injuring 
him that he did not fully re- 
cover for a number of years. 
The House did not expel 
Brooks because the needed 
two-thirds vote could not be 
secured. Brooks, however, 
resigned his seat, and was re- 
elected at once almost unani- 
mously. The IN^orth was 
mightily stirred by this at- 
tack. Even those who did not sympathize with Sumner 
were indignant at the brutality of the assault. Perhaps 
nothing that occurred before the outbreak of the war did 
more to estrange the two sections and to fill the hearts of 
men with bitterness. The North felt that the South was 
given over to ruffianism. The South, on the other hand, 
believed that all Northern men were abolitionists plotting 
violently to overthrow slavery ; many seemed to believe that 
Sumner had received his just deserts. 

The campaign of 1856 was begun soon after these ex- 
citing events. There were three parties in the field. The 
Democrats nominated James Buchanan, of 
^„\^ ®3^^*^°^ Pennsylvania, and John C. Breckenrid^e, of 
Kentucky. Their platform approved of the 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill and the principle of popular sover- 
eignty. It disapproved of " all sectional parties . . . whose 




C?X^^:^--e^ yu4^. 



ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE— 1853-1857. 



397 



avowed purpose, if consummated, must end in civil war and 
disunion." The Eepublicans were organized as a national 
party in tlie winter of 1856, and in the early summer 
candidates were chosen. John C. Fremont, of California, 
was nominated for President, and William L. Dayton, of 
New Jersey, for Vice-President. Resolutions were passed 
declaring that Congress had sovereign power over the Ter- 
ritories and should use it to prohibit slavery there, and that 
Kansas should be admitted at once under the F'ree-State 
Constitution. The Know-Nothings put forward as candi- 




■^ 



'''°''n„„,\ ~^B„.SK., -\.„. f 



> TERRITORY 







'^^W MEXICO te ~"eo f^' ' '^^^ ^^'^^ 
TERRITORY "^^^ ""■ '^' 





THJE EEECTION 

OF 1856 



dates Millard Fillmore and Andrew J. Donelson, of Ten- 
nessee. The campaign was carried on through the summer 
with great earnestness and with extraordinary show of feel- 
ing. Buchanan was elected, but not by a large electoral 
majority. The popular vote of the Democrats was less than 
that of the Republican and American parties combined. 
The Republicans polled 1,341,264 votes, about five times as 
many as the Free-soilers had ever cast. It was evident that 
opposition to slavery had assumed a new and formidable 
shape. 



398 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



References. 
Short accounts: Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 179-193 ; 
Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume IV, pp. 404-415 ; Julian, 
Political Recollections, pp. 114-157; Moore, The American Con- 
gress, pp. 350-370; Dawes, Charles Sumner, pp. 86-131; Merriam, 
Life and Times of Samuel Bowles, Volume I, pp. 110-161. Longer 
accounts : Schouler, History, Volume V, pp. 372-371 ; Rhodes, 
History, Volume I, pp. 384-500, Volume H, pp. 1-346; Burgess, 
The Middle Period, pp. 365-449; Smith, Parties and Slavery. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES BUCHANAN, 1857-1861. 

James Buchanan had held a number of important posi- 
tions before he became President. He had been a member 
of both houses of Congress, Secretary of State, 
BnclianaE's life ^^^(j minister to England. He had performed 
all his public duties acceptably, but had never 
shown remarkable brilliancy or talent. He was decorous 
and gentlemanly in manner, cautious in all political con- 
duct, devoted to the interests 
of his party. He had long 
been a leader in the party, but 
was not so able as some of its 
more positive members. He 
announced privately after his 
election that the great object 
of his administration would 
be " to arrest, if possible, the 
agitation of the slavery ques- 
tion at the North, and to de- 
stroy sectional parties." Such 
a task was too great for human 
power. The chief positions in 
his Cabinet were given to 
Lewis Cass, of Michigan, Sec- 
retary of State ; Howell Cobb, 
of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury ; John B. Floyd, of 




ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 399 

Virginia, Secretary of War ; Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsyl- 
vania, Attorney-General. 

Almost immediately after the inauguration the Supreme 
Court gave a decision in an important case. Several years 

before, Dred Scott, a negro slave, had been 
Scott case?' taken by his master into a free State, and also 

into a part of the national domain where slav- 
ery was forbidden by the terms of the Missouri compromise. 
He had then been taken back to Missouri, and after a time 
was sold. Scott brought suit against his master for assault 
and battery, claiming that by going into free territory he 
had become a free man. The suit was taken from the lower 
courts to the highest Federal tribunal. The Supreme 
Court denied that Scott had become a free man, asserted 
that persons of African descent could not become citizens 
and thus obtain the right to sue in the Federal courts, and 
declared that the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional, 
inasmuch as Congress had no authority to exclude slavery 
from the Territories. The decision of the court was not 
unanimous ; two of the nine judges strongly disagreed with 
it, and two others did not acquiesce in all its parts. We 
may notice that if Scott, being a negro, could not as a citi- 
zen sue in the courts, the court should have dismissed the 
case for want of jurisdiction, without proceeding to give a 
long opinion on all the merits and difficulties of the con- 
troversy. The judges doubtless thought that a legal 
decision would have some effect in bringing peace to the 
country. 

The decision seemed at first to be a great victory for 
slavery and to strike a heavy blow at the Eepublicans. The 
Th tf t d f f^iid^^^6Jital Eepublican principle was that 
the Republicans Congress could and must exclude slavery from 
toward the case, national territory. If the decision of the court 
were to stand as good law, the Republicans must give up 
their fight for congressional action. If they ignored it, 
they posed before the country as advocating disobedience 



400 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

to the decision of the highest court in the land. The situ- 
ation was a trying one. It was too late, however, for an 
" opinion " to settle the slavery question. The Eepuhlican 
party continued to work against the extension of slavery ; 
they attacked the decision on the ground that it was not a 
judicial opinion, declaring that the court had gone out of 
its way to issue a political manifesto. In the long run the 
decision helped the antislavery cause, for it brought home 
to men the need of resolute action. 

All through these years the fugitive slave law was caus- 
ing occasional excitement at the North. Some of the States 

already had " personal liberty laws," the pur- 
r^^r^l pose of which was to prevent free negroes from 

being carried into slavery on the plea that they 
were runaways, and to put difficulties in the way of en- 
forcing the fugitive slave law. Moreover, a great system 

known as the "underground railroad" had 
underground grown up. Its object was to aid escaped 
railroad. slaves to pass Safely through the Northern 

States on their way to freedom in Canada. There were 
many routes, the majority leading across Indiana or Ohio 
to Lake Erie or the Detroit Kiver. The traffic was carried 
on secretly. The fugitives were sheltered in the homes of 
sympathetic persons and smuggled on from one " station " 
to another as opportunity offered. Many stood ready to 
give a helping hand to the hunted black man and to carry 
him a little way on his perilous journey. It is difficult to 
tell how many were thus enabled to make a good escape, 
perhaps not more than two thousand a year ; but the people 
of the South were angered by the fact that, in spite of 
stringent laws, their slaves eluded them, because Northern 
men winked at breaches of the law or openly sympathized 
with the fugitives. 

The whole North was held responsible for the doings 
and words of the abolitionists, yet it needs to be repeated 
here that the North was by no means united .on the sub- 



ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 401 

ject of slavery. After the Dred Scott case and the trials 
of Kansas, Northern men leaned more and more toward 
_,, ^ . advanced antislavery sentiment ; it must be re- 

sentiment re- membered, however, that Garrisonian abolition- 
garding slavery, ig^g ^^re Comparatively few in numbers. They 
believed in " no union with slaveholders," thinking a disso- 
lution of the Union better than a recognition of the crime 
of slavery. They did not vote, or advocate political action. 
They believed that if emancipation were to take place it 
must come at once, because the nation was stained and pol- 
luted with sin. The Eepublicans, on the other hand, were 
opposed to the whole institution and thought it wicked 
/ and inhuman ; but they believed in acting only as far as 
/ there was constitutional right to act ; they believed in using 
political measures, and not simply in denouncing slavery as 
a crime. They made no pretense of trying to wipe out 
slavery within the States where it existed. They were bent 
on keeping it, however, closely within those limits. It must 
be noticed, too, that a large portion of the Northern people 
were not ready to go even thus far, still clinging fondly 
to the hope that the question would settle itself, and look- 
ing upon the Eepublican party as a sectional party whose 
aims were dangerous to the Union. In spite of these differ- 
ences the Southerners, or many of them at least, believed 
that all Northern opponents of slavery were at heart desir- 
ous of overthrowing slavery even within the Southern 
States. 

By this time the weakness of slavery had been shown in 
the struggle for Kansas. Early in Buchanan's administra- 
tion it became evident that the Free-State men 
Kanstr^^"''' must win in the contest in that Territory. 
Their numbers were constantly increasing. "We 
are losing Kansas," said a Southern paper truly, " because 
we are lacking in population." In 1857 the Free-State men 
gave up the pretense that they had formed a legal State 
Government. They took part in the election of the Terri- 



402 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

torial Legislature, defeated the proslavery element at the 
polls, and elected a Legislature in favor of free soil. Before 
this body took office the old proslavery Legislature called a 
convention, which met at Lecompton and formed a State 
Constitution recognizing slavery. This instru- 

L^'stitutfor'' ^^^^ ^^^ ^^* ^^^^^y submitted to the people, 
but only the question as to whether or not there 
should be slavery as a permanent institution. The people 
were not allowed to vote agai7ist the Constitution, but must 
cast a ballot for the instrument with slavery or /or it with- 
out slavery. Moreover, if the popular verdict should be 
against slavery, the Constitution guaranteed slave property 
already in the Territory. Under these circumstances the 
antislavery men refused to vote, and the ballots of the pro- 
slavery men gave apparent popular sanction to the Consti- 
tution. Shortly after, the Free-State Legislature submitted 
the instrument again to popular vote and it was rejected. 
The question of the admission of Kansas under the Lecomp- 
ton Constitution was now discussed in Congress. The Sen- 
ate passed a bill for its admittance, but the measure could 
not pass the House. By this time (1858) Kansas was fairly 
in the power of the Free-State men ; but it was impossible 
to get a bill through Congress admitting the Territory to 
Statehood with a Constitution forbidding slavery. 

In 1858 occurred the great debates between Lincoln and 
Douglas. They were rival candidates for election to the 
The Lin oln- LTnited States Senate from Illinois, and agreed 
Douglas to hold in various parts of the State joint dis- 

debates. cussions upon the important issues of the cam- 

paign. Douglas was the strongest and keenest debater in 
Congress, and the recognized leader of the Democratic 
party at the North. Lincoln was not much known beyond 
the limits of his own State. The whole nation watched 
the contest with interest, and the Eepublicans were sur- 
prised and delighted at the shrewdness with which Lincoln 
exposed the fallacies of his opponent, at the quiet humor 



ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 403 

which added a quaint flavor to his argument, and at the 
plentiful supply of common sense which enabled him to 
analyze the difficult problems of the time and to show their 
simplest meanings. Douglas was elected, but Lincoln 
clearly marked out the course of his party : unflinching 
opposition to slavery, because slavery and freedom could not 
abide together ; no interference with slavery in the South, 
but steadfast opposition to its extension, lest freedom itself be 
overcome ; a full appreciation that the only basis for peace 
was the disappearance of the whole system. Seward was 
soon to declare that there was an " irrepressible conflict " 
between slavery and freedom, and now Lincoln said : " In 
my opinion it [agitation] will not cease until a crisis shall 

have been reached and passed. A house di- 
fgSstiS^ vided against itself can not stand. I believe 

this Government can not endure permanently 
half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be 
dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect 
it will cease to be divided." 

In the decade between 1850 and 1860 the United States 
was, on the whole, prosperous and progressive. There was, 
V . however, one period of difficulty and distress. 

In 1857 there was a financial crisis and a panic ; 
for two years and more business was greatly depressed. 
Men were thrown out of employment by the closing of fac- 
tories, furnaces, and mines ; banks suspended payment ; 
corporations 'of all kinds went into bankruptcy. Misery 
and suffering resulted. Yet the country was, after a time, 

on its way to prosperity again. There was a 
Signs of great increase in population in this decade. 

The census of 1860 showed about thirty-one mil- 
lion people, a gain of about eight million in ten years. Immi- 
grants continued to pour into our land. Inventions multi- 
plied ; there were nearly four thousand patents issued in the 
year 1860 alone. The ocean commerce was immense, and 
our merchantmen carried the American flag to every sea. 



404 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Americans were proud of the fact that they could now dis- 
pute " the navigation of the world with England," and that 
England could " no longer be styled mistress of the sea." 
Much capital was now invested in manufacturing. The iron 
industry of Pennsylvania had assumed large proportions, and 
the cotton and woolen industries of the Eastern States had 
grown greatly in recent years. America had evidently 
passed far out of the agricultural stage. In 1860 the prod- 
ucts of mechanical industry in the United States were 
worth almost two billion dollars. Yet our great export trade 
was still in agricultural products. Nearly four and a half 
million bales of cotton were shipped from the South in a 
single year. 

The North had now passed far ahead of the South in 
population and in wealth. When the Constitution was 
mi. -KT XI. X adopted the two sections were not dissimilar in 

The North out- . , » t 

strips the South these particulars. Accordmg to the census oi 
in population i>^qq^ the inhabitants of the States north of 
Mason and Dixon's line were 1,968,040, and of those south 
of the line 1,961,174. But in 1860 the free States and Ter- 
ritories had a population of 21,184,305, while the slave 
States had 10,259,016, of whom about one third were slaves. 
This difference, yearly growing more marked, was due in 
part to the fact that the European immigrant would not go 
and make his home in a section where labor was considered 
the duty only of bondmen. Thus it came about that the 
South could not keep pace with the North in advance- 
ment. The struggle that had been maintained until 1850 
to keep a balance of power in the Senate, by admitting 
slave and free States in pairs, had to be abandoned. Minne- 
sota and Oregon were admitted to the Union in Buchanan's 
administration. 

But in wealth and material prosperity the free States 
had gained in even a greater degree. Slave labor is not fit 
for the factory or the workshop, where careful, conscientious 
mechanical skill is required. Hence factories were few in 



ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 405 



and in wealth, 



the Soutliern States. Almost everything had to be obtained 
from the North or Europe, in exchange for the great sta- 
ples, cotton and tobacco. In 1850 there were 
1,260,442 persons engaged in manufacturing, 
in the arts, and in mining in the North ; in the South there 
were 32G,000. The commonest necessities of life, with the ex- 
ception of the food that could be raised on the plantation, 
were imported. There was one great crop — cotton — a crop 
so large that the South felt that the product made it rich 
and gave it power. But if the market for this staple were 
taken away, the people 
would be sure to find 
that they were almost 
incapable of self-sup- 
port for more than a 
limited period. More- 
over, even in the field 
of work to which slav- 
ery had driven the 
South, in agriculture 
itself, methods were 
wasteful ; the soil was 
not carefully or system- 
atically tilled ; it was, 
on the contrary, sys- 
tematically exhausted. 
The results are clearly shown by the fact that Southern 
plantations were worth less than ten dollars an acre in 
1860, while Northern farms were worth about three times 
that amount. 

Slavery was more expensive than freedom. At first it 
seems hardly possible that this can be true, but an examina- 
tion of the facts will prove the statement. Benjamin 
Franklin saw this a hundred years ago and more. "The 
labor of slaves," he says, " can never be so cheap here as the 
labor of the workingman in Great Britain. Any one may 




Map showing Western Extension of 
Population in 1800. 



406 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

compute it. Eeckon, then, interest of the first purchase of 
a slave, the insurance or risk on his life, his clothing and 

diet, expenses in sickness and loss of time, loss 
Slavery an ex- -^j neglect of business (neglect which is natural 

to the man who is not to be benefited by his own 
care or diligence), expense of a driver to keep him at Avork, 
and his pilfering from time to time (almost every slave being, 
from the nature of slavery, a thief), and compare the whole 
amount with the wages of a manufacturer of iron or wool 
in England ; you will see that labor is much cheaper there 
than it ever can be by negroes here." A careful examination 
of two farms, one tilled by slaves and one by hired laborers, 
could prove to the inquirer that slave labor was extremely 
expensive.* Only men with large capital could afford to have 
slaves in any number to carry on the work of the planta- 
tion, because the interest from the investment was so small. 
Thus it was that the slaves were passing into the hands of 
a few persons. Those who could not afford slaves did not 
use their own energies in toil, as the free men of the North 
were doing. 

Thus slavery was impoverishing the South. It had dead- 
ened, too, the general intellectual activity of the people and 

retarded their progress. The better classes, 
It makes the ^^^ could travel, import their books and works 

South poor. ^ ^ . f , .,1,1 11 

of art, and keep m touch with the world, were 
cultured and charming ; the large planters, with their sense 
of power and responsibility and their wide range of acquaint- 
ances, were, as a rule, men of mental vigor, many of them 
having distinct talents in politics and statecraft. But spite 
of the graces and talents of the planter class, slavery hung 
like a millstone about the neck of the people. If we judge 
by the number of schools and churches and newspapers and 
libraries, or by roads and railroads and all means of com- 
munication, by the hundreds of things which help us to 

* See illustration in Industrial Evolution of the United States, by 
Carroll D. Wright, p. 151. 



ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN-1857-1861. 407 

determine the status of a community, we see that the South 
was now hopelessly backward. In every respect the cen- 
sus returns of each decade showed that freedom was leav- 
ing slavery behind. " It was evident that the slave States 
were worse fitted at the end of each successive period for a 
forcible struggle with the free States, and that the scepter 
was departing from the South." 

In all that makes for education the South was lament- 
ably poor. Outside of the houses of the rich in the larger 
cities or the homes of the great planters one 
would find neither " a book of Shakespeare, nor 
a pianoforte or sheet of music, nor the light of a Carcel or 
other good center-table or reading lamp, nor an engraving 
or copy of any kind of a work of art of the slightest merit." * 
In the North (1850) there were 62,459 schools and 2,770,381 
pupils, while at the South there were only 29,041 schools 
attended by 583,292 pupils. But worse than all else, a fear 
of the introduction of noxious principles that would endan- 
ger slavery cast its shadow upon the whole school system, 
for education can not flourish in the heavy atmosphere of 
dread or repression. In education, as in industry, slavery 
was degrading ; it acted like a moral curse, poisoning the 
life blood of the people. 

The Southern people had for many years declared that 

the agitation of the slavery question was a menace to their 

safety. They had declared, too, that the real 

faid!^''"^'' ^^*®^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^6 abolitionists was to 
arouse a slave insurrection and to bring woe 
and devastation to the whole South. An event now hap- 
pened that seemed to them to prove them right in all their 
/ charges and suspicions. This was the famous raid of John 
l^Brown into Virginia. Brown was a New Englander by 
birth, who had taken an active part in the bloody struggle 
in Kansas. In fact, among " border ruffians " and fierce 

* Olmsted, The Cotton Kingdom, vol. ii, p. 285. Read Rhodes, vol. 
i, chap. iv. 



408 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Free-State men the old Puritan had distinguished himself 
for fearlessness and violence. Now that Kansas was se- 
cured, he hoped to strike a more effective blow for freedom. 
His design was to seize the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, free 
the blacks in the neighborhood, and retreat to some strong- 
hold in the mountains. Thence he would make incursions 
into the neighboring regions, and make his name a terror 
to the whole South. He hoped, indeed, to force the eman- 
cipation of the slaves, 
not perhaps by inciting 
a general revolt, but 
by gathering them up 
from time to time and 
by making property in 
slaves insecure. It was 
the scheme of a mad- 
man. But Brown can 
hardly be charged with 
insanity; some of the 
ardent antislavery men 
to whom he confided his plan seemed to have had faith in 
its success. In the autumn of 18e59 he seized the national 
arsenal at Harper's Ferry and began to free the slaves in 
the neighborhood. 

Troops were soon hurried to the spot and the little band 
was overpowered. Some of the men were shot in the 
struggle. Brown himself, with several others, 
was captured. They were speedily brought to 
trial, convicted, and hanged. The whole country was 
stirred by this event. The South believed, as never before, 
in the wickedness of the North. The moderate people of 
the Northern States condemned the act ; but, wild as the 
plan had been, the devotion of Brown to his sense of duty, 
the calmness with which he met his fate, his readiness to 
die in the cause of freedom, won the attention even of the 
scoffer and gave a certain amount of dignity to abolitionism. 




John Brown's Fort. 



Its failure. 



ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 409 

For a time, however, this act injured the antislavery cause, 
because reasonable men could not sympathize with such 
methods and purposes. 

In the election of 1860 four candidates were nominated 
for the presidency. Although there had been differences 

between the Northern and Southern wings of 
of i8^6o'*^°^ ^^^^ Democratic party up to this time, they had 

managed to work together. This now proved 
impossible, the Northern element refusing to accept South- 
ern principles with reference to slavery in the Territories. 
The Southerners had by this time lost all patience with 
popular sovereignty. They utterly renounced it and em- 
braced the principle of the Dred Scott case, which was in 
reality the earlier principle of Calhoun, and demanded that 
Congress should protect slavery in the Territories. They 
nominated John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, and Joseph 
Lane, of Oregon. The NTorthern Democrats, under the lead 
of Douglas, still clung to popular sovereignty, and at the 
same time, quite inconsistently,* declared their willingness 
to submit to the decision of the Supreme Court. They 
nominated Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia. 
The Eepublicans denied the " authority of Congress, of a 
Territorial legislature, or of any individual to give legal 
existence to slavery in the Territories " ; they repudiated 
the doctrine of popular sovereignty, and of the Dred Scott 
case as well. Their nominees were Abraham Lincoln, of 
Illinois, and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine. A fourth party 
noniinated John Bell, of Tennessee, and Edward Everett, 
of Massachusetts ; it was called the Constitutional Union 



* The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case declared that the 
National Government could not exclude slavery from the Territories. 
If that be so, then a Territory could not exclude slavery either, for it is 
created and its power bestowed upon it by the National Government. 
The doctrine of popular sovereignty was just as contradictory of the 
court's opinion as was the Republican doctrine, that it was within the 
power of Congress to exclude slavery. 
28 



410 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

party. It declared for the " Constitution of the country, 
the Union of the States, and the enforcement of the laws." 
These broad terms and generous phrases could have little 
meaning in such a crisis ; but these men still hoped that 
words and resolutions and good purposes might quiet the 
tempest and save the Union. Lincoln was elected by a 
good electoral majority over all other candidates ; but the 
Republicans were still a minority of the people, for they 
cast only about eighteen hundred thousand votes, while all of 
their opponents cast about a million more. The situation 
was therefore essentially different from what it would have 
been, had the party been sure of anything like a united 
North behind it. 

A number of times the leading men at the South had 
declared that the Southern States could no longer remain 

, _ .. in the Union if the Republican party were 
leads in successful. The J^orth had not taken these 

secession. threats very seriously. They were thought to 

be but bluster, in which the South was considered a master. 
" The old Mumbo-Jumbo," said James Russell Lowell, " is 
occasionally paraded at the North, but however many old 
women may be frightened, the pulse of the stock market 
remains provokingly calm." But in some parts of the 
South men were desperately in earnest, and had no inten- 
tion of resting content with words. South Carolina was 
ready to take the lead and put once more into practice the 
doctrine of her favorite sou, Calhoun. This time, however, 
she intended not to stand on her rights and nullify con- 
gressional action, as in 1832, but to withdraw entirely from 
the Union. December 20, 1860, a popular convention at 
Charleston passed an ordinance of secession. Its cardinal 
words are as follows : " We, the people of the State of South 
Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain 
. . . that the Union now subsisting between South Caro- 
lina and other States under the name of ' The United States 
of America ' is hereby dissolved." Before the end of the 



ciuRLGnwn 
MERCUR7 

EXTRA: 

— — ■— ■■»-»»»~^i— 11 - 

Fassea unanimously at 1.15 o^clockt -**• •'M^. December 
aO/A,1860. 

AN OROU^AI^CE 

*2b dissolve the VnUm between the State «tf South Carolina and 
other States united with her under the compact entitled « The 
Constitution qf the Ciilted Slates oj *lnierlea.» 

We^OePeople of iXe Slate c/ SouA Oanlina, m Omvatim aumbbot, do declare and ordam, and 
it is herOgdetiared and ordained, 

Thti the OidiDaDM adopted hj as id Conyention, on the twenty-thW daj of May, fn the 
year of out lord one thousand seven hundred ud eighty-eight, whereby the Conslitolioa of the 
Uniled Btatos of America was ratified, and also^ aH Acta and parts of Acts of the General 
Anenhly of tils Btat<^ tati^^ smesdfflenia of the said ConsUtution, ato hereby repealed; 
and that the onloa now aalnlstlDg betmea Sooth Carolina and other States, under the name of 
* The United States of Aoeiioa." is hereby diaaohed. 



THE 



UNION 



DISSeiVED! 



4:12 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

winter Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
and Texas passed like ordinances? Other Southern States 
hesitated, and for the time being took no decisive action. 

When Congress met after the election, President Buch- 
anan sent in his message (December 3, 1860). The whole 
country read it with great interest, for the 
Buchanan's ^^^^^ ^^^^^^i the President would take toward 

message. 

secession was of the utmost importance. 
Already South Carolina was preparing to carry out her 
threats of disunion. Buchanan denied that the right of 
secession was constitutional, and asserted his intention to 
retain possession of the property of the United States in 
the South ; but he entered laboriously into a long argu- 
ment to prove that there was no legal right to " coerce a 
State " or compel it to remain in the Union against its will. 
He cast the blame for existing difficulties on the North, 
because of the violation of the fugitive slave law and the 
continual encroachments upon Southern rights. He even 
spoke encouragingly of getting Cuba ; this meant, of course, 
more slave territory. There was nothing in the message 
from one end to the other which would be likely to fill with 
hope and courage those that were longing for strength and 
wisdom in high places, or to make those falter and hesitate 
who were plotting a disruption of the Union.* 

* It should be noticed that the Constitution does not give a right to 
coerce a State, in so many words; it provides for a government that is 
directly and immediately over people. The citizens of South Carolina 
were also citizens of the United States. The Government of the United 
States was immediately over them, and was just as much their govern- 
ment as the government at Columbia was. The Federal Government 
could en force its laws against the citizens of South Carolina; and there- 
fore there was no need to consider the question as to whether or not it 
could coerce a State. In the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, James 
Wilson pointed out the real situation. "In explaining his reasons," 
said Madison in his Journal, " it was necessary to observe the twofold 
relations in which the people would stand, first, as citizens of the General 
Government, and, secondly, as citizens of their particular State. . . . 



ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 413 

Buchanan's position all through this time was a trying 
one. In December his Cabinet began to break up.* Cass 
^ , ^ resie'ned because he thought the President was 

Buoliaiian and ° . nn - , • • • i. • 

the Southern uot acting With sumcient vigor to maintain 
fo'^ts. Federal authority. Black became Secretary of 

State in his place. Cobb and Floyd resigned to take actiye 
parts in the movement for secession, and Thompson, the 
Secretary of the Interior, soon followed them. Their places 
were filled with Union men, and so before the middle of 
the winter Buchanan had a loyal Cabinet. When the 
Southern States passed the ordinances of secession they 
took possession of the Federal forts and other property 
within their limits. Their theory was that the land be- 
longed to them, but they professed willingness to pay for 
the improvements. With the exception of four forts on 
the Gulf and the forts in Charleston harbor, these posi- 
tions passed into the hands of the secessionists without 
trouble. The position at Charleston was of special interest 
and importance. Fort Sumter was held by a small force 
under Major Anderson. He determined to hold his position 
until ordered by the National Government to retire. Buch- 
anan refused to give up the place to the South Carolina 
authorities. Early in January an attempt was made to 
send relief to the little garrison, whose stronghold was now 
menaced by the batteries that had been thrown up to com- 
mand it and the approaches to it. A small steamer, the 
Star of the West, was dispatched with this assistance. The 
batteries opened fire on her, and she gave up the attempt to 
relieve Sumter. This happened early in January, and for 
three months and more Anderson and his brave little force 
continued to hold the fort for the Union at the very gates 
of the proud State that was leading the movement for 
secession. 

Both governments were derived from the people, both meant for the 
people ; both, therefore, ought to be regulated by the same principles." 
* Read Rhodes, History, vol. iii, p. 187. 



414 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

The session of Congress in the winter of 1861 was a 

gloomy one, largely taken up with discussions of compromise 

and concession, for men still hoped against 

Efforts at j^ ^j^^^ ^^^ Union could be saved without 

compromisei -•■ 

war. The proposals of Senator Crittenden, of 
Kentucky, were long considered in the Senate, and many 
persons thought that a compromise could be reached on the 
basis he advocated. He proposed amendments to the Con- 
stitution, one of them providing that the line 36° 30' should 
be run through to the Pacific to separate slave territory from 
free. But a committee appointed by the Senate to consider 
these proposals could come to no agreement. The Eepub- 
lican members of the committee voted against the propo- 
sition, and without substantial agreement in the com- 
mittee there could be no chance for the amendments before 
Congress or the people. So this device failed. The House 
had no better success in agreeing upon a compromise than 
had the Senate. At the suggestion of Virginia, a " peace 
convention " was held at Washington in midwinter. Dele- 
gates were present from twenty-one States, but the assembly 
accomplished nothing. Some of the Northern people were 
now timorous and fearful, and longed for concession and 
settlement on almost any basis. Others seemed to see that 
they could not give up the fair results of the election and 
call their action compromise,* for the Eepublican party 
was pledged to oppose the spread of slavery anywhere, 
either north or south of 36° 30'. 

In February delegates from six Southern States f met at 
Montgomery, Ala. They organized a confederacy called 

* Lincoln let his opinion be known to a few of the influential men. 
He objected to dividing the Territories by a geographic line. " Let this 
be done," he said, " and immediately filibustering and extending slavery 
recommences." 

f South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, and Mis- 
sissippi. Texas delegates were appointed a little later than the first 
meeting of this convention. 



ADMINISTRATION OP BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 415 



the Confederate States of America. The constitution 
agreed upon was in most respects similar to that of the 
The Confederate ^^^^^^^^^ States. They elected Jefferson Davis 
States of President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of 

America. Georgia, Vice-President. 

It is not necessary to give here at length the arguments 
used in favor of the right of secession. John C. Calhoun, 
thirty years before, had clearly outlined them, and in con- 
sidering his statements in regard 
to State sovereignty and nullifi- 
cation we have seen briefly what 
might be said in favor of the 
right of a State to secede. It 

must be remembered 
Irgit" that the Southerners 

believed that they 
were acting strictly within their 
legal rights ; that each State had '' 
entered into a compact or agree- 
ment with other States, and that 
when that agreement was violated 
or the interests of a State no Ci::^^^^^^^'^^^^'^'^*^ 
longer subserved by the Union, it was at liberty to withdraw. 
They had been for some years saturated with Calhoun's doc- 
trines, and the peculiar character of slavery had put them 
in a defensive attitude. Hence they had come to consider 
the titate as the chief guardian of their interests, while, on 
the other hand, a feeling of national patriotism was grow- 
ing daily at the North. The l^orth felt more surely, year 
by year, the fact that the American people were a nation, 
and that the great republic must not be torn asunder. 
But slavery made the Southern people feel that they were 
different from the North, from the rest of the world, in- 
deed ; that they had their own separate institutions and 
must defend them. 
The North held that secession was neither more nor less 




\ . 



416 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

than revolution. The people believed with unwavering 
faith that the Union was one and indestructible ; that they 
„ ^, ^. must use force to crush a rebellion which would 

Northern senti- . . , 

ment toward the break into picces the republic of which they 
Union. -jry^^ grown so proud. When the time of action 

came they did not stop to discuss fine points of law, be- 
cause fervent love of country was burning in their hearts. 
Even those who had argued in favor of Southern rights, 
and spoken in behalf of State sovereignty, were not ready 
to accept the consequences of such doctrine. They felt 
the national life, and were prepared to announce its exist- 
ence on the field of battle. 

Slavery caused the civil war. It is true that the North 

fought at first not to free the negro, but to preserve the 

Union : few were ready to admit that the end 

Slavery was . . 

destructive of would be forcible abolition. But the South 
Union. seceded because the Eepublicans opposed the 

extension of slavery, because the Southerners believed that 
slavery would be unsafe even in their own States, and be- 
cause the leaders were driven to madness by a long struggle 
for equality in which they now saw themselves beaten. It 
is true that slavery caused the war, and, as we shall see, the 
war put slavery away ; but the war was for the Union, and 
it brought into being a better and greater Union than ever 
before, not simply a legal, formal union of States, but a 
real union of feeling and impulses and sympathies, such as 
could not exist while slavery was vitiating the life of one 
great section of the people. 

References. 

Short accounts: Wilson, Division and Reunion, Chapter VIII; 
Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume IV; pp. 424-434; Lo- 
throp, William H. Seward, pp. 181-246 ; Morse, Abraham Lincoln, 
Volume I, pp. 111-229. Longer accounts : Rhodes, History, Volume 
II, pp. 237-500, Volume III, pp. 1-316 ; Schouler, History, Volume 
V, pp. 371-512; Hart, Slavery and Abolition; Smith, Parties and 
Slavery. 




THE -^^ 

INITED STATES 

in 1861 ^ 

EXPLANATION: 

I 1 FREE STATES 

CONFEDERATE STATES ^ 

p 1 SLAVE STATES NOT JOINING THE CONFEDERACY 

I 1 TERRITORIES 



Lincoln's 
early life. 



CHAPTER XVL 
Secession and Civil War— 1861-1865. 

ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809. 

His father moved later to Indiana, and thence to Illinois. 
The family were miserably poor, the father 
shiftless and utterly lacking in force of char- 
acter. The early life of the boy was spent 

in the midst of squalor and ex- 
treme poverty. He is said to 

have been at school only one 

year in his whole life. What 

books he could lay hands on, 

however, he read eagerly. He 

used to write and do " sums," we 

are told, on the wooden shovel 

by the fireside, and to shave off 

the surface in order to renew 

his labor. By dint of persever- 
ance he educated himself in 

some way without the help of 

schools ; and we find in his later 

life that few men could use the 

English language so simply and 

effectively as he, and few men 

thought and spoke with such 

clearness or showed such keen insight into the difficult 

problems of the time. 

He managed to get admitted to the bar in Illinois, was 

417 




418 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

elected to the Legislature, and finally to Congress. He was 
at first a Whig, but joined the Eepublican party when it 
was organized, becoming at once one of its 
ffis political jj-^Qg|. prominent members. He won for the first 
time national attention and respect in the fa- 
mous debates with Douglas in 1858. The skill which Lin- 
coln showed in these discussions, where he was at least a 
match for his renowned antagonist, won him popularity and 
applause in the whole North. And yet when he was elected 
President in 1860 few people had any idea of his strength. 
It was thought even by many Republicans that he was a 
rough fellow, and perhaps a dangerous man for such a cri- 
sis. No one could know his full greatness, for it required 
the awful trials of four years of war, the woe and anxiety 
such as few men in the world's history have ever tried to 
bear, to bring out the wisdom, judgment, and profundity of 
his mind and the sweetness and lovableness of his character. 

Lincoln made up his Cabinet from the leaders of his 
party, not shrinking from the task of guiding them. Sew- 
ard was made Secretary of State ; Chase, Sec- 
His Cabinet retary of the Treasury ; Simon Cameron, Sec- 
retary of War. His inaugural address was a 
masterpiece. He did not unduly threaten the Confederate 
States, but he solemnly warned them to consider the conse- 
quences of their conduct. He left no doubt in any one's 
mind about what he held to be his duty : " To the extent 
of my ability I shall take care . . . that the laws of the 
Union be faithfully executed in all the States. ... I trust 
this will not be considered as a menace, but only as the de- 
clared purpose of the Union, that it ivill constitutionally 
defend and maintain itself." 

Soon after his inauguration Lincoln began to consider 
what should be done about Fort Sumter. There was great 
difference of opinion as to what should be done. General 
Scott, at the head of the army, advised that the fort be 
abandoned. Most of the Cabinet hesitated at first to take 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 419 

any step that might bring on war, but the final feeling was 
well expressed in the words of Chase : " If war is to be the 

result, I see no reason why it may not be best 
ort Sumter. i^^gi^^-^ in consequence of military resistance to 
the efforts of the administration to sustain troops of the 
Union, stationed under the authority of the Government, in 
a fort of the Union, in 
the ordinary course of 
service." A fleet was 
consequently ordered 
to carry relief to the 
fort. Before it arrived, 
however. General Beau- 
regard, the leader of 
the Confederate forces, 
summoned Major An- 
derson, who was in com- 
mand of Sumter, to 
surrender. Anderson 
refused, and the bat- 
teries opened on the 

fort April 13, 18G1. The bombardment lasted thirty-four 
hours, and then Anderson surrendered the position. He 
saluted his flag with fifty guns, and marched out " with 
colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company 
and private property." 

The firing on Sumter aroused the North to the highest 
pitch of excitement. Among the great mass of citizens 

there were no longer discussions of constitu- 
is begun. tional or legal rights. The flag of the nation 

had been fired upon, and that was enough. 
The President called for volunteers to suppress the insur- 
rection, and the people answered with promptness ; " as if 
by magic, the peaceful North became one vast camp." 
Washington, surrounded by slaveholding States, was in 
peril, and troops were hastened to its defense. The first 





~iu ■ / 


\ 


? '<<.--iV^ S> ISLAND ^hUh^i^J^ 

--^^-^^^SW Caftle Piuckncy ^W^^ 
'^' yj.\^ Ft.Moultrie^^psSii>^ 
r , '"'"'\ Ft.Sumter 






) 


tllAKl.l 


STO-N "-/( / 




llAKIJOll ~\\;--^ 





420 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

blood of the war was shed in Baltimore, where a mob resisted 
the passage of the Northern regiments. That city, how- 
ever, was soon forcibly occupied and compelled to keep the 
peace. Maryland was kept from joining the Confederacy. 
Washington was garrisoned and defended. It remained in 
effect a walled town for the next four years. 

South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, 
Louisiana, Texas, had jpassed ordinances of secession before 
the firing on Sumter. Arkansas joined the 
Jlj^® Confederacy May 6, and North Carolina May 

20. Virginia and Tennessee took the same 
step somewhat later. Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, 
though containing strong slaveholding elements and sym- 
pathizing with the South, did not join the Confederacy. 

The South was ready for war. Federal arsenals in the 
Southern States had fallen into the hands of the Confeder- 
acy and furnished the soldiers with equip- 
rii^^S^^th^ ^^^ ment. The North was almost entirely unpre- 
pared. An immense army had to be raised and 
furnished with munitions of war. The North was strong, 
for it was built on free labor and had far outstripped the 
South in industry and wealth. The South was strong in 
desperate valor, for the people believed that the Northern 
army was a foreign invader ; a long resistance could be 
made, for the men were fighting for their hearthstones. 
But the North must finally win, if the struggle went on, 
for its resources were varied and practically unlimited. It 
was really a contest between the powers of modern civiliza- 
tion on the one hand, and, on the other, the weakness of a 
people whose industry was founded on slave labor, but who 
were supported by a magnificent and never-failing courage. 
The North appreciated the weakness of the South ; in- 
deed, believed that it was weaker and less in earnest than it 
was. Neither section recognized fully the physical strength 
and intense moral earnestness of the other. It was decided 
very early in the war to crush out the rebellion, and this 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 421 

aim, though difficult to carry out, was not abandoned. 
The main instrument in this crushing process, or the 

" xinaconda " system, was the navy, which was 
^ °^ ^ ^' soon employed in establishing an immense com- 
mercial blockade. The enormous task of preventing any 
vessel from entering or leaving a Southern port was under- 
taken. The rebellion was to be crushed, starved, and 
stamped out. Before long the ports from Chesapeake Bay 
to Galveston were guarded by ships of the United States 
navy. 

The natural line of defense of the South was the Ohio 
and the Potomac ; but as neither Maryland nor Kentucky 

joined the Confederacy, the Confederates were 
The rdlitary compelled to take up a line of defense consid- 

situation. -»- ^ ^ 

erably south of these rivers both m the East and 
in the AVest. The attitude of the Confederate armies was 
principally one of defense, and of the Federals one of at- 
tack. It is necessary to keep these salient facts in mind. 
The defensive attitude of the Southern armies gave them 
great military advantage. 

The mountains, running in a southwesterly direction 
from near the source of the Potomac, divided the field of 
war into two natural divisions. In the East the main pur- 
pose of the Northern army was to reach the political center 
of the Confederacy, Richmond. There were two natural 
methods of approach : one overland, almost straight south- 
ward from Washington ; in this course the invading force 
would be endangered and retarded by forests, through which 
the roads were often poor, and by streams, which were 
sometimes swollen by rains and difficult of passage ; the 
other method of approach was by way of the sea to the 
peninsula between the York and the James Rivers, and 
thence up the peninsula to Richmond. Each method pre- 
sented difficulties. In the West the first great purpose was 
to get possession of the Mississippi, which divided the 
western part of the Confederacy in two. Here Vicksburg, 



422 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

strongly fortified by nature and art, was a strategic position 
of immense importance. The rivers in the West, large and 
navigable, would serve as roads by which to pierce the ene- 
my's country. An examination of the map will make it 
apparent,* too, that Chattanooga, holding as it were the 
gateway between Tennessee and the Southeast, was likely 
to be a center of conflict, for, if the Union forces succeeded 
in getting possession of eastern Tennessee, a great contest 
would ensue at this point, which was doubly important, be- 
cause from it one railroad ran northeast to Richmond, 
another southeastward to the sea. 

Looking a little more closely at the first Southern line 
of defense, we find in the West the following important 
posts : Columbus, New Madrid, and Island No. 
The SoTitliern ^q on the Mississippi, Fort Henry on the Ten- 
nessee, and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland. 
In the East we find first that the western portion of Vir- 
ginia was of great value to either party. The eastern part 
of the State was more fully protected by the Confederate 
troops, who had taken up a position south of Washington. 
The cry at the South was " On to Washington ! " the North 
answered, " On to Richmond ! " 

The Confederates were beaten in two battles in western 
Virginia, and this secured to the North control of that 
portion of the country. The people there were 
irgrnia. ^^^ generally slaveholders and had little sym- 
pathy with secession. They therefore formed a separate 
State and came into the Union as West Virginia. The 
movement was begun early, but it was June, 1863, before 
the State was admitted to the Union. 

The people at the North, not realizing what war meant, 
and believing that all would be over in a few months, 
clamored for activity. They did not appreciate that the 
troops were raw and undisciplined, but they demanded im- 

♦ ♦ See map, p. 458-9. 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 



423 



mediate victory. General McDowell, who commanded the 
army in the field in front of Washington, set out with an 

army of about thirty thousand men to attack 
Jdy 21^1861. *^^ Confederates, who were commanded by 

Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston. The two 
armies met near Bull Run Creek, not far from Manassas 
Junction, about twenty-five miles southwest of Washington. 
The arrangements of the battle were well planned ; but the 
Federal troops were not under proper control, and the sub- 







^'^^M .r^U^U:^ 






^ kj^f- '-">--". ^v,M ^^^t /^ / 



"-'^ b ^ 



Api.oiii.ittox C 11 



'W 






The Wak in the East. 



424 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 





^. i.^^^-^^^r 



The battle of Bull 



ordinate generals were not well trained. For some time the 
men fought with quite remarkable vigor and courage ; but 

at length re-enforcements for the 
Confederates appeared on the field 
and began a flank attack. The 
National forces then began a re- 
treat, which " soon became a rout, 
and this presently degenerated in- 
to a panic." These are McDowell's 
own words describing the effect of 
the battle. Many are said not to 
have stopped fleeing until they 
reached Washington. But the 
Confederate forces were in no con- 
dition for pursuit. The victory 
was as demoralizing to them as 
defeat for the Federals. 
Run depressed the North, but it 
brought home to the people some conception of what it 
meant to suppress the rebellion. Horace Gree- 
battle!''^*^' ley wrote Lincoln a letter, which illustrates 
the depression at the North. It begins with 
the words, " This is my seventh sleepless night " ; it ends, 
"Yours in the depths of bitterness." It was no holiday 
campaign that was needed. Lovers of the Union quieted 
down into stern determination to fight steadily for the laws, 
and the effect of the defeat was good. At the South there 
was an undue feeling of elation, and the belief that the 
South could not be conquered was materially strengthened. 
After this battle it was evident that the soldiers needed 
drilling and the army needed organization before success 
on the field of battle was possible. General 
McClellan, who had won some success in 
western Virginia, Avas summoned to take com- 
mand of the troops in. front of Washington. In November 
General Scott was put upon the retired list, and McClellan 



General 
McClellan 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 



425 



succeeded him in general charge of the armies of the 
United States. Under their new commander the troops, 
which were being daily increased with new recruits, were 
organized into the Grand Army of the Potomac. For 
months there was no action. The daily report of the 
Northern newspapers was : " All quiet on the Potomac." 

Hardly was the war begun when England issued a 
"proclamation of neutrality." This acknowledged the 
Southern belligerency of the Confederacy. The theory 

belligerency of the United States Government was that 
acknowledged. ^^^^^^ ^^g j^^ reality no war, but only an insur- 
rection. The people there- 
fore felt that Great Britain 
acted hastily in acknowledg- 
ing that the South was a 
belligerent power.* The 
North had hoped for the 
sympathy of the English in 
a contest manifestly in the 
interest of freedom ; and 
when England so quickly 
issued this proclamation 
there was considerable re- 
sentment. France soon took 
the same step, and other 
states followed. 

The South, on the other 
hand, believed that the Eu- 




CcTfM^^.^^ 






ropean states would not suffer the supply of cotton to be 
cut off, and that England especially would be forced to 



* Such a proclamation does not acknowledge that those engaged 
in the rebellion have really formed a new state in the family of nations, 
but it declares that ivar exists between two parties. Now the United 
States Government at this time was not willing to admit that this re- 
bellion was a war; they wished the "rebels" to be considered merely 
traitors. 

29 



426 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



recognize the Confederacy as an independent power, break 
up the blockade, and possibly directly join in the contest 
_ -, ,, in order to obtain cotton for her mills, so that 

The South . . • i i i mi • 

helieves "cot- her starving operatives might have work. This 
ton is king." never came about, however. Had the South 
been fighting for home rule alone, and not for slavery, the 
European states would have been under stronger tempta- 
tion to acknowledge the Confederacy as a separate nation. 




VH-L 
THE CI\I1>WAK^ 



In the West, 
1861. 



In the West, during the summer of 1861, not much was 
accomplished in the way of offensive warfare. In Missouri 
there was some sharp fighting. A large ele- 
ment of the people of that State sympathized 
with the secession movement. For some time, 
therefore, the State was given up to internal conflict. A 
convention finally voted for the Union by a large majority, 
and the Federal forces brought the State under their con- 
trol. At the end of the year Generals Halleck and Buell 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 427 

were in command in tlie West, the latter with his head- 
quarters at Louisville in charge of the Department of the 
Ohio. Halleck had his headquarters at St. Louis, and was 
in charge of the Department of the Missouri. General 
Grant, acting under Halleck's orders, was stationed at 
Cairo. 

Movements in the West were retarded somewhat, be- 
cause the Federal authorities did not wish to alienate Ken- 
tucky by sending in troops and making that 
for Union ^^^ State the basis of operations against Tennessee. 
Kentucky endeavored at first to hold a neutral 
position, siding neither with the North nor the South. 
That condition of things could not last long, however. 
AVith infinite tact and patience Lincoln applied himself to 
the task of winning the State for the Union without war. 
The Union element was encouraged and guided, until at 
length it obtained full control of the State Government. 
The Confederate army from Tennessee alienated Kentucky 
by making an inroad into it, and as a consequence the 
latter State was safely on the Federal side by the autumn 
of 1861. 

At the end of the year 1861, with the Union forces sta- 
tioned as we have indicated in preceding paragraphs, with 
Kentucky now committed to the Union, the 
Condition of ^^^^ j^^ come for an onward march of Federal 

the West. 

troops. Movement began in the winter, and 
when once the troops in the West began to move they 
kept vigorously at work, until finally the Mississippi was 
open its whole length. A glance at the map will show 
what an advantage the rivers were to the Northern forces 
in their invasion of the Southwestern States. Troops could 
be conveyed up and down these rivers easily and rapidly, or 
their supplies could be quickly provided. Seeing this ad- 
vantage, the National Government made great efforts to fit 
out boats that would be of service on these Western waters. 
This gunboat service in the West formed a very important 



428 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

factor in the movement of armies and in the conquest 
of the country. 

The Congress elected in 1860 was summoned to meet in 
extra session on the 4th of July, 1861. The Republicans 
controlled the House and Senate. The Demo- 
tica a airs. ^^^^^ joined in necessary war legislation. Be- 
fore the gathering of Congress the President had, of his 
own accord, declared the suspension of the privilege of 
habeas corpus within the vicinity of Baltimore, and had 
done a great many acts made necessary by the emergency. 
His actions were now ratified by Congress. 
Congressional rj^j^^g^ ^^^.g ^^^.^ principally the first call for 

action. ^ X ^ 

militia, establishment of the blockade, the call 
for three-year volunteers, the increase of the regular army and 
navy, and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of ha'beas 
corpus."^' The President recommended in his first message 
that an army of four hundred thousand men be raised. 
Congress passed a bill providing for enlistments of not 
more than five hundred thousand men, and authorized a 
loan of two hundred and fifty million dollars. It increased 
the tarifE duties, and provided for a direct tax and an in- 
come tax. 

By this time Lincoln had shown his master hand as a 
popular leader. Whatever he said came to the people of 

the North as sound sense. He addressed in 
power.^^ simple, straightforward language "the plain 

people," and he soon obtained their unwavering 
support. In strictly executive matters, too, he was the 
guiding spirit of the administration, not yielding his judg- 
ment to the wise men who made up his Cabinet. " The 
President is the best of us," wrote Seward candidly. 

We should notice at this juncture how the Northern 
men were now united, irrespective of parties. The Gov- 

* There was little question of the legality of the first two, and all, 
if extra-constitutional, seemed necessary and desirable. 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 



429 




ernment was in the hands of the Republicans, but on the 
motion ottered in the House by a Democrat that the House 
sliould pledge itself " to vote for any amount of money and 
any number of men which may 
be necessary to insure a speedy 
and effectual suppression of the 
rebellion," there were only four 
votes in opposition. In January 
of 1862, Edwin M. Stanton, who 
had been a lifelong Democrat, 
was made Secretary of War, in 
place of Simon Cameron. There 
were, it must bo said, through- 
out the war some persons at the 
North, known as Copperheads, 
who were in secret sympathy with 
the South, or at the best out of 
sympathy with the North; but ^i^^vL^ ^Ua/Sxc 
the great body of the people, 

whatever may have been their earlier political leanings, 
were now heartily for the Union. 

In the autumn of 1861 serious discord and ill feeling 
were brought about between England and America by an 
affair in itself comparatively trivial. The Con- 
federate Government, intent on getting full rec- 
ognition from foreign states, dispatched two 
commissioners, the one to England, the other to France. 
Conveyed by an English ship, the Trent, they were inter- 
cepted by an American man-of-war, under the command of 
Captain Wilkes, and were taken into custody. The English 
Government demanded the immediate release of the commis- 
sioners and a suitable apology, and began preparations for 
war. Our Government took time for consideration, and 
then gave up the men. Here doubtless England was right. 
Our man-of-war had no right to stop an English vessel on 
the high seas and take passengers from her. But the 



^CxaaXc 



The Trent 
affair. 



430 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



abruptness of the demand for reparation and the haste 
shown in preparing for war irritated the American people, 
already annoyed at the attitude that England had taken 
toward the South. Our Government, by a courteous yield- 
ing, was saved a war which would have perhaps been over- 
whelmingly disastrous while the civil war was in progress. 



At the beginning of 1862 the Union army was large, 

and, on the whole, well disciplined and equipped. There 

were over six hundred thousand soldiers in the 

Thebeginning ^^^^^ ^ i^ ^j^g j^^g^. McClellan faced 

01 X o u ^ I 

Joseph Johnston. In Kentucky Buell and 
Halleck commanded against Albert Sidney Johnston, who 
had charge of the Confederate line of defense. Early in 

the year General Garfield per- 
formed some vigorous and 
brilliant work in eastern Ken- 
tucky, driving the Confeder- 
ates out of the Sandy Valley, 
and General George H. Thomas 
defeated the enemy at the bat- 
tle of Mill Springs. Thus 
eastern Kentucky was taken 
from the hands of the Con- 
federates. 

In February it was decided 

to attack Forts Henry and 

Donelson, the former on the 

Tennessee, the latter on the 

Cumberland Eiver. If these were taken the Confederate 

line would be broken in the center. Commodore Foote. 

. . with several srunboats, carried up the Tennessee 

Grant's Aacto- „ ® , i i -, t 

lies, February, an army of seventeen thousand men, under 
1862. command of General Grant. The efficiency of 

the new gunboat was to be put to the test. The army was 
landed, and the boats engaged the batteries of Fort Henry, 




ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN-1861-1865. 43I 

but protracted engagement was unnecessary, inasmuch as 
most of the Confederate force had been withdrawn to Fort 
Donelson, which was only eleven miles distant. Grant 




mm¥ 



k^ i^ 



MWm r" ■ 



432 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

now marched his army to the Cumberland and invested this 
fort, with five thousand less men than the enemy had. Ee^ 
enforcements soon appeared to assist him, and the gunboats 
made their way around to help in the attack. The garri- 
son tried to break through the Union line and escape, but 
they were beaten back, and assault was made by the Union 
troops. Part of the works were carried and the fort sur- 
rendered. It was a great victory for the Union forces; 
over fifteen thousand prisoners were taken. The main 
line of the Confederate defense was broken. Kentucky was 
now wholly wrested from the Confederates, and Nashville 
was soon occupied by the Union troops. 

New Madrid and Island No. 10 were strongly held by 
the Confederates as advanced posts on the Mississippi 
River. Early in the spring these places were attacked by 
Commodore Foote and General Pope. First New Madrid 
was taken, and then, by clever strategy, the island was 
captured and with it a garrison of seven thousand men. 
There was great rejoicing all over the North at the suc- 
cess of Grant and Pope. Memphis itself was in immediate 
danger. 

After Grant's victory at Donelson the Confederates had 
gathered in force at Corinth, in northern Mississippi. This 
place was now a strong position in their new 
federatrike!" ^^^® ^^ defense, which ran along the Mem- 
phis and Charleston Railroad, from Memphis 
through Corinth to Chattanooga. Grant prepared to break 
this new line. The main body of his army, some forty 
thousand men, was at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennes- 
see, while General Buell was marching across the country 
from Nashville to co-operate with him. 

The Confederate troops marched out from Corinth and 
attacked Grant in force before Buell could arrive. The 
battle began on Sunday morning, April 6, 1862, and was 
waged with furious vigor the whole day. The Confederates 
made a series of fierce onslaughts, which were met with ob- 



ADMINISTRATION OP LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 



433 




stinate courage. By nightfall the Union forces had been 

driven back about a mile from the position occupied in the 

morning.* But there was no discouragement 

?^"^?l!o'^"^' During the night Buell arrived. The tables 

Apnl, 1862. ° '^ 

were now turned, and the Confederates were 
driven in confusion from 
the field. Grant always 
strenuously maintained 
that even had Buell not 
arrived he could have 
won victory on the 
morrow. Certainly the 
Union forces were not 
beaten the first day, but 
re-enforcements made 
success a certainty. 

The Federal army 
now took Corinth. 
Thus the second chief 
line of the Confederate 

defense was broken. Next Memphis fell, and 
Memphis taken. ^^^^ Mississippi was free to the Union gunboats 
as far south as Vicksburg. The Western army had certainly 
accomplished wonders, and the loyal hearts of the ^N^orth 
were cheered with a succession of victories. 

There was no great movement during the rest of the 
year in the West. Ilalleck was a leisurely general, and 
^,, advantao^e was not taken of the great success 

Utiier engage- ^ 

mentsinthe of his Subordinates. The Confederates under 
West, 1862. Bragg made themselves secure at Chattanooga, 
and then rapidly marched forward even to the northern 
part of Kentucky, near Louisville. f Checked at Perry ville, 
they fell back and took position in the vicinity of Murfrees- 

* General A. S. Johnston, one of the ablest of the Southern generala 
was killed the first day of the battle — a grievous loss to the South. 
+ Battle oi Perry ville occurred October 8, 1863— a Federal victory. 



Battle of Shiloh. Showing positions 
of forces at noon on second day. 



434 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

borough. Here, at the very end of the year, they were 
attacked by the Federals under Eosecrans. The battle, 
known as the battle of Murfreesborough or Stone's Eiver, 
was favorable to the Union forces. Bragg withdrew his 
army some thirty miles and stood as a barrier against far- 
ther Union advance toward Chattanooga, a strategic point 
of great importance. Grant held Corinth in spite of deter- 
mined efforts * to defeat him. Later in the year he moved 
southward, preparing for an attack upon Vicksburg. 

Meanwhile a duel had taken' place between two iron- 
clads in Hampton Roads. The Confederates had prepared 
,, ., ^ an ironclad of new model. The hulk of an old 

Monitor and 

Merrimac, vcsscl was cut dc wn and covered with an iron 

March, 1862. coating, which converted it into a floating bat- 
tery most formidable to the Union vessels that were gath- 
ered in the harbor. Early in March this strange monster 
appeared, attacked the frigates Congress and Cumberland, 
at the mouth of the James River, and destroyed them 
without difficulty. The success of the blockade was en- 
dangered. There was great consternation. It was feared 
that the rebel ram might bombard Washington, and even 
sail to Philadelphia or New York. But now a new and 
even stranger craft appeared upon the scene. Northern 
ingenuity had produced an antagonist quite a match for 
the Merrimac. The Monitor was seemingly a mere plat- 
form with a movable turret pierced for two guns. A con- 
flict ensued between the iron vessels. The shot and shell 
that were poured against the Monitor's turret and deck 
glanced harmlessly aside. The Merrimac was not destroyed, 
but after a fight of several hours it withdrew to Norfolk, its 
victorious career at an end. 

The control of the whole course of the Mississippi was 
of great importance. In the spring of 1862 a powerful 
fleet was fitted out to attack New Orleans from the Gulf. 

* Battle of luka, September 19, 1862. Battle of Corinth, October 
3-4, 1863. 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 



435 



To capture the place was a difficult task, for it was de- 
fended by strong forts and by a number of ships of war. 

The command of the expedition against it was 
New OrieL ^^^^^ *^ David G. Farragut. In April the fleet 

began the bombardment of the forts. Six days 
and nights without intermission shells were thrown from 
huge mortars into the defenses, but they did not succeed 




in destroying the works or driving the garrison out. Far- 
ragut then planned to run by the forts, attack the fleet 
above them, proceed up the river, and take the city. This 
was successfully accomplished. New Orleans passed into 
the hands of the Federal forces, April, 1862. 



436 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



The peninsula 
campaign. 

the York. 



As already suggested, the fall and winter * of 1861-'62 
had been spent in quietness by the Army of the Potomac, 
In the spring McClellan decided to change 
his base of operations and to transfer his forces 
to the peninsula between the James Eiver and 
He moved leisurely up the peninsula, hindered 
somewhat by the enemy, and 
espociully balked by a daring 
offensive move made by " Stone- 
wall " Jackson down the 
Shenandoah Valley. This 
valley was peculiarly 
advantageous 
ground for 
the enemy. 
It furnished 
a safe avenue 
for raids into 
Maryland or 
feints against 
Washington. 
If the Union 

forces pursued, they were led constantly away from Eich- 
mond. 

McClellan pushed on and threw his left wing across the 
Chickahominy at Fair Oaks. This portion of the army was 
attacked by Johnston, who had managed to 
collect a large force for the protection of the 
Confederate capital. Unsupported by the right 
wing, which was on the other side of the river, the National 
left was nearly crushed. Night ensued, and the next morn- 
ing the Confederate army was met and repulsed. McClellan 
pushed his army still nearer Eichmond. By the end of 

* Battle of Ball's Bluff, a serious defeat for the National forces, had 
occurred in October, 1861. Only a small force was engaged. McClellan 
had brought the army to a fine state of organization and discipline. 




The Peninsula Campaig 



Fair Oaks, 
May 31, 1862 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN-1861-1865. 



437 



June he was encamped four miles from the city, and to 
those who did not know the dangers and the difficulties 
success seemed certain. 

Johnston had been wounded in the battle at Fair Oaks, 
and he was now succeeded by General R. E. Lee. The new 
„, , , commander at once be^an effective strateffv. 

The seven days' . ^ °-^ 

fight, June 26 While pretending to send forces to the Shen- 
to July 2, 1862. andoah Valley to re-enforce Jackson, he actu- 
ally summoned Jackson back to Richmond. The attack 
upon the long line of the National troops, the memorable 
seven days' fighting, began. The Union forces were at- 
tacked with terrific vigor by the Confederates, but the 
assaults were met with cour- 



age. McClellan handled his 
army well, but did not show 
ability to act with swiftness 
or decision. In the course 
of the seven days he moved 
his troops from north of the 
Chickahominy to Malvern 
Hill on the James, where 
the last of the seven battles 
was fought. In August he 
was ordered to withdraw 
from his position. He re- 
treated slowly toward For- 
tress Monroe, bringing off 
his troops with skill. 

General Halleck, who, be- 
cause of the rare 
Halleck and efficiency of his 



.mil 




subordinates,* had won vic- 



tories in the West, was put in general charge 
of the armies. About the same time an army was placed 

* Hjilleck was a scholarly general, but he lacked force and vim. He 
was made general-in-chief, with headquarters at Washington, not tak- 
ing the field in person. 



438 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

under the command of Pope. Its field of operation was 
in northern Virginia. 

McClellan was ordered to move his troops from the 
peninsula by water to Acquia Creek on the Potomac. 
Pope moved southwest from Washington across 
of Bull Run, ^^^11 ^^^^ ^^^ faced Lee on the Rappahannock 
August 29, 30, just northeast of Oulpeper. The Confederate 
commander sent Jackson on a wide detour. 
Pope's supplies were destroyed and he fell back. After 
various maneuvers, carried on largely in ignorance of the 
real situation, the Union forces attacked the enemy, strong 
in numbers, near the old battlefield of Bull Run. The re- 
sult was disaster. The whole Federal army was near being 
overwhelmed. 

Pope retreated toward the Potomac, and gathered his 
brave but distracted army within the defenses of Wash- 
ington. The invasion was a failure. Pope had 
deftlt/^"'^^^*^ been outgeneraled by Lee, who seemed at every 
moment to know the whole situation thorough- 
ly. Stonewall Jackson's splendid efficiency in carrying out 
Lee's plans had much to do with the victory. It has been 
well said that the whole campaign was one of which an 
American can well be proud. The North was outgeneraled, 
but the troops of the South and North fought gallantly and 
persistently. The Northern men met defeat with that in- 
domitable pluck and patience which was a match for South- 
ern dash and brilliance. Pope reported after the sore de- 
feat : " The troops are in good heart, and marched off the 
field v;ithout the least hurry or confusion. Their conduct 
was very fine,'* 

McClellan was again put in full command of the Army 
of the Potomac, including the troops that Pope had com- 
manded. He waB under the general direction of Halleck. 
He prepared to meet Lee, who had determined upon an 
invasion of Maryland. The situation was now exactly the 
opposite from what it had been a few months before. In 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 



439 



L 

Maryland 



Antietam, 



1862. 



June the Union forces were within sound of the church 
bells of Richmond ; in September they were maneuvering 
in the immediate vicinity of their own capital 
to guard it from a Confederate attack. Lee 
marched northward across the Potomac into 
Maryland. Jackson, under his direction, bombarded Har- 
per's Ferry and easily took the position with over eleven 
thousand men, who ought to have been either removed or 
properly re-enforced. Then occurred the bat- 
tle of Antietam between the two main armies, 
a fierce contest in which the Union forces 
lost twelve thousand men and 
more ; the Confederates n-early as 
many. The invasion of Maryland 
was a failure, and Lee retreated 
across the Potomac. McClellan, 
perhaps necessarily, allowed him 
to escape without pursuit. The 
Union army was soon led forward 
again to the Eappahannock. Mc- 
Clellan was then removed, and 
Burnside put in his place. 

Burnside, knowing how much 
McClellan had been criticized be- 
cause he did not fight with greater 
dash and vehemence, and push 

vigorously on the enemy, determined to be 
PredericksbTirg, aggressive. He moved down the Eappahan- 
nock to Fredericksburg. By this time Lee 
had manned the strong defenses south and 
west of the town with a powerful army. The Union troops 
made a furious attack upon the Confederate position. The 
slaughter that ensued was horrible. Burnside retreated 
across the river with a loss of thirteen thousand men. 

This was the end of a year of dire disaster in the East. 
There had been a long series of defeats. In the peninsula 




December, 
1862 



440 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



campaign there had been some clever work and everywhere 

desperate fighting. Antietam was counted a Union victory, 

_ ,, „ and Lee had found that he dared not press 

EesTilts of ^ 

campaign of farther north; but after the second battle of 
^^^2. ]3|j11 Run, and the terrible repulse at Fredericks- 

burg, an invasion of Virginia and a conquest of the South 
seemed to many a disheartening and impossible task. Spite 
of successes in the West, the winter of 1862-'63 was a 
gloomy one in Northern households. 



The campaign of 1863 fortunately brought new hope to 
the nation ; it gave assurance, in fact, that the rebellion would 

be crushed if the North 
would persevere. Be- 
fore examining the mili- 
tary events of that year 
we need to notice some 
political events that gave 
new character and mean- 
ing to the war. The 
North had rushed to 
arms when the flag was 
tired upon ; the one 
thought prevailed, that 
the Union must be pre- 
served. But as the 
months went by it was 
felt by many that the 
great curse of slavery, which had estranged the South and 
driven the two sections apart, must be done away witli as a 
result of the war. 

President Lincoln hated slavery, and was anxious to see 
the day when the nation would not be cursed with the sys- 

^ ,. . , „ . tern. During the first year of the war, how- 
Political affairs. , ^ ^ i . • ^ ^1 X 
ever, he was averse to taking any step that 

would make the war to all appearances a crusade against 




BATTLE OF 

FREDERICKSBURG 

SCALE OF MILES 



ADMINISTRATION OP LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 441 

slavery. He knew that there was a strong sentiment at the 

North in favor of immediate emancipation, but there was 

also a strong race prejudice as well. More- 

The Union over, for a lonar time feeling in the border 

and slavery, ' ° t i . 

States must be regarded, and this was, of course, 
opposed to abolition. It was clear enough to Lincoln that 
slavery could be abolished only by saving the Union, and 
that this, morally and legally, was his first duty. Were the 
South victorious in the war, abolition would be impossible. 
AVere the North victorious, then there would be a chance 
for the final extirpation of slavery. So the President con- 
stantly checked the excited abolition sentiment, and im- 
pressed on the minds of all that the Union must be pre- 
served. 

In March, 1862, he sent a special message to Congress 
recommending the passage of a resolution to the effect that 

" the United States ought to co-operate with 
Compensated g^^^g ^j^j^j^ ^^^^ gradual abolish- 

abolishment. ^ . . 

ment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary 
aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compen- 
sate for the inconvenience, both public and private, pro- 
duced by the change." Congress passed a resolution of that 
nature. But Lincoln could not get the slave States that still 
remained in the Union to listen to Kim. He pleaded with 
their representatives and senators in Congress, pointing out 
to them that slavery in the border States must before long 
"be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion — by the 
mere incidents of war." His pleading was of no effect. 
Those States refused to take advantage of the National aid 
thus offered or to take a single step toward emancipation. 

Yet the antislavery sentiment was growing, and the 
time was near at hand when slavery must go. The en- 
thusiasts brought great pressure to bear upon the Presi- 
dent, but he wisely and patiently bided his time. About 
the middle of the summer he drew up a draft of a proclama- 
tion for emancipation. Shortly afterward he read it to 
30 



(Ti^^e^yX^ cjf r^ 'if-'yutrcAj Ju^ , fyjrM^^ ^^<* ^ly /nn Li> n^. 

„^,££«^r^ CWUU^^.'^ifP >^=^ iUy^cZH^j /J;tS:t^; <2^v«^/^^ /^.etr 

Cc;^^A^\jt4J ^1^^^ /U^^^^^CZcC ^£Ca^^ JUy/ /fi^£^*^^C^ C^^*^*x^ 

Lincoln's Draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 443 

his Cabinet. He did not ask the opinions of his secre- 
taries ; he simply announced his purpose. The measure 

was a war measure, and he intended to shoulder 
^rTlamation! *^^ whole responsibility as the commander in 

chief. It is a striking scene in history — this 
plain and simple man, bred in poverty, reared in adversity, 
quietly declaring that he intends to strike the shackles 
from four million slaves ; that he alone is ready to do the 
most momentous thing done on the American continent 
since the days of the Philadelphia convention. 

The publication of the emancipation proclamation was 
delayed for a time, because it seemed wise to wait until the 
Union forces had won a victory, lest the proclamation " be 

viewed," as Seward said, " as the last measure 
for^'Sor.'*' of an exhausted Government, a cry for help." 

After Lee was beaten back at Antietam, Lin- 
coln decided that the time was come. " When the rebel 
army was at Frederick, I determined, as soon as it should 
be driven out of Maryland, to issue a proclamation of 
emancipation, such as I thought most likely to be useful. 
I said nothing to any one ; but I made a promise to my- 
self, and (hesitating a little) to my Maker. The rebel 
army is now driven out, and I am going to fulfill that 
promise." * 

On September 22, therefore, the famous proclamation 
was issued. This was only preliminary. It warned the in- 
Publication of ^i^^^itants of the States in rebellion that unless 
the proclama- they should return to their allegiance before 
tion, 1862. ^i^g flj^s^ ^^y Qf January, 18G3, he would declare 
their slaves free. Of course this announcement had no 
effect in bringing back the Southern people to their alle- 
giance, and so, on the appointed day, the final proclamation 
was issued. The President had no legal right to emanci- 
pate the slaves on any other theory than that he was acting 

* These words are given by Secretary Chase as the words of 
Lincoln. 



444 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Resnlts. 



as commander in chief of the army and navy, and that 
such action was a legitimate war measure. 

The results of this proclamation were of great impor- 
tance. It made it clear to the world that the war was not 
simply an insurrection, but that slavery and 
freedom were pitted against each other ; there- 
fore there was no longer any fear of intervention by Eng- 
land or France. It gave the Northern people, that were 

intensely in earnest against 
slavery, new courage and zeal. 
Of course its great and lasting 
result was the destruction of 
the whole institution ; for, 
though the proclamation cov- 
ered not the whole South, but 
only the States or the parts of 
States where the people were 
in rebellion, the outcome of 
the war was now sure to be the 
complete extinction of slavery 
everywhere in the Union. 

The preliminary proclama- 
tion seemed for a time to have 
a bad effect at the North. There was great opposition 
to Lincoln in many quarters; and the elections in the 
autumn of 1862 were not so favorable to the Eepublicans 
as was hoped. There was a reaction against the President 
and his policy. But as a matter of fact, his party in the 
end gained strength and coherence by this frank opposi- 
tion to slavery. The war had new meaning, and in the 
next year (1863) the tide of success turned strongly in favor 
of the North. Lincoln at no time gave any sign of regret 
or showed any wish to waver. He issued his final procla- 
mation on the first of January, as he had promised. 




9^. ^ /^hl^e.z,..U^ 



At the beginning of 1863 the army in the West under 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 



445 



Rosecrans was near Chattanooga. Vicksburg and the whole 
Southwest were in danger, for the Union army was being 
„.^ „ . pushed vigorously forward. In the East, the 
Army of the Potomac, which had fought so 
Summary. bravely, had few laurels to display. The navy 

had shown its great usefulness under the command of able 
and intrepid men. 

Early in 18G3 General Hooker was put in command of 
the Eastern army. In May occurred the battle of Chancel- 
lorsville, a few miles west of Fredericksburg. 
This was another defeat for the Union army. 
It was soon followed by the removal of Hooker 
as commander ; General Meade was put in his place. 

As he had done the autumn before, Lee again assumed 
the offensive, crossed the Potomac, and marched north, this 
time even 

Gettysburg, 
July 1-3, 1863. 



Chancellorsville, 
May, 1863. 



into 




south- 
ern Penn- 
sylvania. The opposing 
forces met at Gettys- 
burg. There was fought 
one of the most stub- 
born and bloody battles 
of the century. Lee's 
army, flushed with re- 
cent victories, and con- 
fident of success, at- 
tacked the Union forces 
that were posted in a 
strong position south of 
the town. In spite of 
the desperate valor of 
the Confederates, their 

attacks were in vain. Meade showed talent as a command- 
ing officer, and his soldiers fought with a bravery and deter- 
mination that was a match for the splendid impetuosity of 



446 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



FORTS ,j^. . 

^AILR0ADS.««4»> 
LEVEES -«».>• 
ROADS ^== 
A A HARTFORD 
B RICHMOND 
C BROOKLrN 
^ 1 IROQUOIS 
Q 2 ONEIDA 



" 6 PINOLA 
" 7 KENNEBEC 

« 9 MORTAR BOATS 



the Southerners. The Confederates lost over 20,000 men 
in killed, wounded, and missing, and the Federal army 

lost 23,000 out of their 
90,000. The invasion 
of the loyal States was 
a failure, and Lee never 
tried it again. Gettys- 
burg, with successes in 
the West now to be men- 
tioned, may be taken 
as the turning point of 
the great rebellion. -It 
may be considered, in- 
deed, one of the great 
turning points in his- 
tory. From this mo- 
ment the Confederacy 
languished ; the end of 
slavery wasnear at hand. 
Meanwhile Grant 
had determined that 
Vicksburg must be 
taken. He set patiently 
to work and made his 
preparations with his 
customary care. Gen- 
eral Pemberton, commanding the Confederates, endeavored 
in vain to check the Federal advance. He was beaten and 
outgeneraled, and soon found himself cooped up within the 
town. Assaults upon the works were made by the Union 
army, but to no avail. Grant therefore determined to lay 
regular siege to the place. The town was 
Juf^4^^i863 hemmed in and starvation soon threatened it. 
On July 4 the stars and stripes floated over 
the defenses of Vicksburg. The Mississippi was open ; " the 
Father of Waters rolled unvexed to the sea." Grant had 




Siege op Vicksburg. 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 



447 



carried on a vigorous, daring, and offensive campaign. He 
had held his army well in hand, and had taken every ad- 
vantage of the enemy. His success, coming with the vic- 
tory at Gettysburg, lightened the hearts of the Northern 
people. 

We left Rosecrans facing Bragg, who had taken a posi- 
tion not far from Chattanooga at the beginning of 1863. 
Chi karna They faced each other for some months. In 

September, the course of the summer the Confederates 

1863. ^ygj.g maneuvered out of Chattanooga, and the 

Federal troops took possession of the place. In September 
the battle of Ohickamauga was fought. The Union army was 
defeated. Complete rout was saved by Thomas, who com- 
manded the left. From beginning to end his troops fought 
with rare constancy and were superbly handled. At the 
end they were surrounded on three sides, but Thomas 
never thought of surrender 
or flight. Bragg hurled his 
army against the solid array 
absolutely to no purpose. 
" No more splendid specta- 
cle appears in the annals of 
war than this heroic stand 
of Thomas in the midst of 
a routed army. . . . Slowly 
riding up and down the 
lines, with unruffled coun- 
tenance and cheery word, it 
is his own invincible soul 
which inspires his men for 
the work they have to do." * 
When he got the opportu- 
nity, Thomas quietly withdrew in good order, rejoined the 
right and center, that had been driven from the field, and 
the Union army was ready again for the contest. It re- 
* Dodge, Bird's-eye View of the Civil War, p. 181. 




448 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

tained its hold on Chattanooga, and the Confederate army 
desired to get the place. The situation was exactly the op. 
posite from what it had been at the beginning of the year. 

Grant now took command of the Army at Chattanooga, 
and with his usual energy began at once to operate against 
Ohattanoo a ^^^ enemy. The Confederates under Bragg 
November were strongly posted in a seemingly impreg- 

23-25, 1863. nable position on high ground south and east 
of the city. Grant gave Sherman command of the left, 
Thomas of the center, and Hooker of the right. The battle 
was marked by brilliant generalship and magnificent fight- 
ing. Sherman pushed eastward and then south against Mis- 
sionary Ridge. Hooker's men fought the wonderful battle 
above the clouds on Lookout Mountain. They took the 
position and forced back the Confederate left. Thomas 
was ordered the second day to attack the center. His 
troops were eager. They seized the lower earthworks, and 
then, breaking away from orders, with cheer upon cheer 
they charged up the slope under murderous fire and on to 
the very mouths of the enemy's guns.* They swept the 
Confederates from their works. The field was won. One 
may look in history in vain for anything more glorious in 
war, more dashing and brilliant, than the charge up Mis- 
sionary Eidge, November 25, 1863. 

We need to turn our attention for a moment to the 
business condition of the country and notice what was 

being done to meet the expense of the war. 

The outbreak of hostilities brought great dis- 
order to the North ; trade was paralyzed. Men found their 
usual sources of income cut off, and many seemed to face 

* " The slopes are hard to climb ; strength and ardor are not the 
same in all the assailants. But if the ways differ somewhat, there are 
seen no laggards among them. The boldest of them gathered around 
the flags, each of which they passed from hand to hand as fast as one 
pays with his life for the honor of holding it a moment." (History of 
the Civil War in America, by the Comte de Paris, vol. iv, p. 300.) 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 449 

privations who had heretofore not known want. But the 
courage of the people rose in the midst of need and hard- 
ship, and they entered with prodigious energy 
Commercial upon the task of supplying their immense army 
with the sinews of war. They economized in 
order to lend their means to the Government, and they met 
the heavy taxes with cheerfulness. Business soon revived, 
the heavy tariff dues that were laid stimulated manufac- 
turing, and the very destruction of property, while it meant 
a real loss of wealth, made for the time, at least, a de- 
mand for work. The busy wheels of industry were soon 
whirling at the North. There was no languor and little 
repining. 

The Government devised various plans of raising the 
requisite funds. In August of 1861 a higher tariff law was 
passed. In this year about 1150,000,000 were 
borrowed by the sale of interest-bearing bonds. 
In February, 1862, an extreme measure was adopted. This 
was a bill providing for the issue of paper currency — the 
so-called " greenbacks." These pieces of paper were made 
legal tender ; in other words, persons were obliged to accept 
them as the equivalent of money in the ordinary course of 
business. Of course this paper rapidly depreciated. Be- 
fore the end of the next year a dollar in gold was worth a 
dollar and fifty cents in paper. In 1864 the premium on 
gold was still higher, reaching two dollars and eighty-five 
cents in July of that year. . The depreciation of the paper 
meant the rise in the price of commodities. 

A year after the passage of the Legal Tender Act Con- 
gress passed the National Bank Act. This was later 
somewhat altered, but has in its essentials re- 
National Bank jnained in force to this day. It made pro- 
vision for the issue of circulating notes by 
banking associations throughout the country that were 
organized in conformity to law. United States bonds were 
to be purchased by the banks and deposited with the Gov- 



450 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

ernment ; the bank so purchasing was then entitled to re- 
ceive and circulate notes to the value of ninety per cent of 
the bonds deposited. The notes were guaranteed by the 
Government, which had the bonds for its security. For 
over twenty years the State banks had furnished the paper 
currency of the country. Their notes circulated widely. 
It has been estimated that in 1861 there were as many as 
ten thousand different kinds of notes in circulation. Nat- 
urally such a condition had brought great confusion into 
commercial transactions, because some of these notes were 
valueless, or nearly so, while others were good for their face 
value. By the establishment of the national banking sys- 
tem a real national currency, backed by the credit of the 
Government, was given to the country. Moreover, as asso- 
ciations were formed to take advantage of this act, there 
came a demand for bonds, and this helped the credit of the 
Government, which was thus enabled to dispose of its bonds 
on the market at better figures. About two years later, 
1865, Congress passed a law levying on the issue of State 
banks a tax so high that it drove their notes out of circula- 
tion. 

The Government needed to use every expedient for 
raising money. The war was being conducted on such a 

gigantic scale that the expenses were enormous. 

In addition to a direct tax which was appor- 
tioned among the States, a system of excise or internal 
revenue was established. Before the end of the war these 
internal revenue taxes were very burdensome. All sorts of 
articles were taxed. Every branch of trade or industry was 
called upon to bear its part of the burden. The people 
paid with a willingness that is surprising. " No other na- 
tion," said a leading English paper, " would have endured 
a system of excise duties so searching, so eifective, so 
troublesome." When admiring the loyal bravery of the 
men who went to the front to fight, we need not forget 
the steadfast patriotism of the men who stayed at home 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 451 

and supported the Government with unflinching and un- 
grudging readiness. 

At the outbreak of the war the armies were filled by 
volunteers ; but in the early part of 1863 it seemed neces- 
sary to resort to other means of obtaining the 
1863^''^*' needed troops. The year 1862, it will be re- 

membered, was not a very successful one in 
the field, and while it is true that the great body of the 
Northern people bore their burdens bravely and were will- 
ing to support tlie war courageously, there was a goodly 
number of fault-finders, who pointed to each defeat of the 
Union forces as a proof that the South could never be con- 
quered. Under such dispiriting influences voluntary en- 
listments nearly ceased. This does not mean that the 
people had lost all enthusiasm and loyalty ; but they felt, 
and justly so, that the Government should undertake to 
get men and money in the systematic, businesslike fashion 
in which other Governments were accustomed to provide 
themselves, and not simply to rely upon popular enthu- 
siasm ; for the result of such reliance must be that the 
more generous and loyal would feel the duty of enlisting, 
while those who were selfish and critical would content 
themselves with fault-finding. An. act was therefore passed 
providing for " enrolling and calling out the national 
forces." Able-bodied men between twenty and forty-five 
were to be enrolled. A certain number of soldiers were to 
be called for, in the future, from each congressional dis- 
trict, and when the quota of a given district was not filled 
by volunteers, drafts were to be made from the enrolled 
citizens. There was much opposition to this act. In July 
a riot broke out in New York city, which for four days was 
almost completely at the mercy of a frenzied 
1863 "° ' mob. Officers of the law and innocent citizens 

were killed ; negroes were set upon and slain ; 
property was ruthlessly burned. Troops were sent to the 
city by the National Government, and the rioting was put 



452 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

down with relentless energy. Over a thousand of the 
rioters were killed before order was completely restored. 

Early in 1864 Grant was made Lieutenant General and 

given command of all the armies of the United States. 

He determined to conduct the war in the East 

himself, and to leave the general charge in the 

West to his tried friend and able assistant, Sherman. 

Grant now entered upon his "hammering campaign." 
He decided to keep working steadily forward to Eichmond. 
Lee was at Orange. The Union forces were 
campaign, near Oulpeper. Grant pushed southeast, and 

1864. ^j^g attacked by Lee in the Wilderness,* near 

where Hooker met such disasters the year before. The 
Confederates knew the ground well, but the region was 
unknown to Grant, who nevertheless did not become con- 
n ..1 ^xT. fused or lose command of the situation. The 

pattle of tne i i i i i • t 

Wilderness, battle was indecisive, and the loss on both sides 
May 5-9, 1864. ^^g enormous. Not far from eighteen thou- 
sand Union men fell, and eleven thousand Confederates. 
In comparison with such a struggle many of the famous 
battles of the Old World's history were mere skirmishes. 
Grant, in spite of this terrible ordeal of fire, ordered his army 
forward by the left to Spottsylvania. General Sherman says : 
" That was, in my judgment, the supreme moment of his 
life. Undismayed, with a full comprehension of the impor- 
tance of the work in which he was engaged, feeling as keen 
Spottsylvania, ^ Sympathy for his dead and wounded as any 
May 9-20, One, and without stopping to count his num- 

1864. bers, he gave his orders calmly, specifically, 

and absolutely — ' Forward to Spottsylvania.' " Another 
fierce contest ensued. Grant, with his usual stubborn 
vigor, tried his hammering with some success. Again the 

* A low forest or thicket of undergrowtli and second growth trees 
extending for miles, and intersected by a few roads by which troops 
could be moved. See map, p. 423. 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 



453 



Union army suffered heavy loss ; but the North and the 
army realized that a general was in command who had 
made up his mind to fight the war to a finish. 




After a struggle of about two weeks the attacks upon Lee's 
position were given up and the Federal troops were ordered 
Movement b *^ march by the left straight to Eichmond. 
the left toward Finally the two armies were pitted against each 
Eichmond. ^ther at Cold Harbor. The Union forces were 

now dangerously near Eichmond, not far from the point 
reached by McClellan in his peninsula campaign two years 
before. Lee was here securely posted. His numbers were 



454 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

inferior to Grant's, but he had the advantage of acting on the 
defensive. Grant determined upon assault, for he knew the 
Korth at the beginning of a presidential campaign needed 

the encouragement of a victory, and he still 
Jnne?l864 Relieved that hammering would be effectual. 

The charge of the eager troops was glorious, 
but the slaughter was terrific. With all their valor they 
could not drive the veteran Army of Northern Virginia 
from its well-defended position. 

So far Grant had acted upon the furiously offensive. 
Lee, with a caution he had not thought necessary against 

his previous opponents, had been acting on 
foTete^bur ^^® defensive. Grant, by a series of flank 

movements, had pushed south and east until 
he had reached the neighborhood of Eichmond. Now, re- 
pulsed at Cold Harbor, but not beaten — for he did not know 
how to be beaten — he determined to shift his position some- 
what, as McClellan had done, and with great skill threw a 
large portion of his troops across the James and settled down 
opposite Petersburg, a strategic point of the utmost impor- 
tance, inasmuch as it protected the communications of 
Richmond. Lee moved to defend his position. An assault 
by the Union army resulted in taking the outer works at a 
great sacrifice, but it was apparent that direct attack 

would not do. The army settled down to in- 
and lays siege, vest the place. So far the losses of the Army 
June, 1864. ^^ ^^^q Potomac had been very great, nearly, if 
not quite, sixty thousand men, since the opening of the 
campaign. 

The investment of Petersburg amounted to an invest- 
ment of Richmond itself. Grant was determined to keep 
, . his troops active and to wear out his opponent 

by successive blows. He desired to get round 
the end of Lee's army and to cut off his communications. 
This he tried to do by extended cavalry raids, which were 
executed with great vigor and daring. 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 



455 



to October, 
1864 



Earlier in the summer General Sheridan, with a picked 
command, had ridden completely around Lee's army, and 
had even passed the outer works of Eichmond. 
Shenandoih ^® ^^^ ^^^^^ (August, 1864) directed to take 
VaUey, August charge of affairs in the Shenandoah Valley. 
General Early, a Confederate cavalry leader of 
great boldness, after having been within sight 
of Washington, had re- 
tired up the valley. Now 
began an entertaining 
game of war. Sheridan 
had Grant's authority " to 
push things hard," and he 
did so. By the end of the 
summer, after a series of 
successful conflicts, he 
had the whole valley at his 
mercy. It was devastated 
with relentless thorough- 
ness. It could no more 
be a highway for those an- 
noying raids which had 
frightened the adminis- 
tration at Washington, and had such a demoralizing effect 
on the courage and hopefulness of the North. It was no 
longer a granary for the Confederate forces. In October 
„ , „ , occurred the famous battle of Cedar Creek. 

Cedar Creek, 

October 19, Early surprised the Union forces and vehe- 
1864. mently attacked them during Sheridan's ab- 

sence. They had begun to retreat, and, though reforming 
was going on and the day was not wholly lost, there was 
danger of complete defeat, when Sheridan rode upon the 
field, and by his magnetic presence cheered the troops to 
renewed effort. He rode back at full gallop, calling out to 
the straggling fugitives : " Face the other way, boys ! We 
are going back to our camps ! We are going to lick them 




^^^ 



t.,e.H^ c^ ^U^e^^"^ 



456 HlSTORr OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

out of their boots ! " And so they did. They made a bold 
counter attack and overwhelmed the enemy. 

Up to this time Mobile had remained in the hands of 
the Confederates. It was an important point. The task 

of blockading it eilectually had proved prac- 
August, 1864. ^ically impossible. In 1864 it was the one 

opening through which cotton could be ex- 
ported or the much-needed supplies brought in to sustain 
the languishing Confederacy. The harbor was strongly de- 
fended, but Farragut determined to lead his ships by the 
forts, attack the fleet inside, and, with the help of a land 
force, capture the place and its defenses. This plan was 
successfully carried out. Farragut, lashed to the rigging 
of the flagship, where he could see all that was going on, 




The Confederate Eam Tennessee. 
From the working drawings in the Confederate Collection at Washington, 

directed the movement of his vessels. The Confederate 
fleet was beaten and the forts captured. The capture of 
Mobile sealed up the whole South. An occasional blockade 
runner might creep in, or supplies might be dragged across 
the plains from Mexico, but from now on the South was 
almost completely thrown on its own resources. 

In the earlier part of the war several vessels were fitted 
out in England for the use of the Confederate government. 
Our minister at London, Charles Francis 
Adams, called the attention of the English 
Government to the fact that these vessels were building, 
and asked that they be not allowed to leave the harbor. 
Attention was specially called to a ship known as the " 290." 
The government, however, did not intervene, and the 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 4.57 

" 290 " got safely off to sea. She then assumed the name 
Alabama, and began, as a privateer, to prey upon American 
commerce. She was a fast sailer, well armed and strong, 
and she did immense damage, capturing and burning North- 
ern merchantmen. There were other vessels of the same 
kind, but because of her exceptional success the Alabama 
was especially famous. In June, 1864, a battle was fought 
off Cherbourg, France, between this Confederate cruiser 
and the United States ship Kearsarge. The 
Fight with the ^^^.^ vessels were of about equal size and arma- 

Kearsarge. ^ 

ment. The contest was of short duration. 
The Kearsarge was superbly handled, and her fire was de- 
liberate and destructive. At the end of an hour the Ala- 
bama was totally disabled and struck her colors. Before 
her crew could be taken from her she sank to the bottom 
of the English Channel. Her captain and some of her men 
were taken on board an English vessel and thus escaped 
capture. 

During the career of the Alabama she had destroyed as 
many as sixty-three merchantmen. Other vessels of the 
same sort, especially the Florida and the 
Protest of the Georgia, had likewise done much damage. 
Our Government filed its strenuous protest 
with the English Government, asserting that these vessels 
ought to have been kept from going to sea when it was 
well known for what purpose they were being fitted out. 
The warnings of the United States Government are summed 
up in the following words from Secretary Seward's dispatch 
to Mr. Adams : " Upon these principles of law and these 
assumptions of fact, the United States do insist, and must 
continue to insist, that the British Government is justly 
responsible for the damages which the peaceful, law-abiding 
citizens of the United States sustain by the depredations 
of the Alabama." 

During the summer of 1864 a very active campaign 
was fought in the West. Sherman was in command there 
31 



St. Louis 



^ 



V 




xf- 









R., 



Louisville 






i Perry ville^ 

u c 

MilLSprii 




ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN~1861-1865. 



459 



his base of supplies and marched across Georgia. " These 
troops numbered over sixty thousand rugged veterans, 
unhampered by sick or off-duty men, with twenty days' 
rations, plenty of beef on the hoof, about one field gun 
per thousand effectives, and an excellent canvas pontoon 
train." * Early in December he appeared before Savan- 
nah, and it was evacuated shortly after, f 

This great march through the very heart of the Confed- 
eracy was proof positive that the rebellion could last but 
a few months longer at the 
best. Sherman had disap- 
peared in the heart of 
Georgia, and when he re- 
appeared at Savannah a 
great load was taken from 
the anxious hearts of the 
North. Grant wrote him : 
"I never had a doubt of 
the result. When appre- 
hensions for your safety 
were expressed by the 
President, I assured him 
with the army you had, 
and you in command of 
it, there was no danger, 
but you would strike bottom on salt- water some place." X 




* Dodge, p. 287. 

f December 22d, Sherman sent Lincoln the following dispatch 
(Sherman's Memoirs, vol. ii, p. 231) : 

Savannah, Ga., December 22, 186U. 
To His Excellency, President TAncoln, Washington, D. C. : 

I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with 
one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition ; also about 
twenty-five thousand bales of cotton. 

W. T. Sherman, Major General. 

X Sherman, Memoirs, vol. ii, p. 223. 



460 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Meanwhile Thomas had been playing a skillful game 
with Hood, whom Sherman had boldly left in his rear. 

Hood, venturesome and aggressive, marched to 
''^T^^H the North against Thomas, whose main position 

was at Nashville. Thomas was cautious and 
wary. Despite orders from Washington and demands from 
Grant that an advance be made, Thomas took all the time 

he wished to make complete preparations and 
December, to put his forces in full readiness for battle. 

1864. jje ^lien turned upon Hood and crushed him.* 

The rebellion was practically over in the West. 

Political as well as military difficulties surrounded the 
President in the summer of 1864. One would think that the 
task of carrying on this great war was enough 
Mitical without other cares or responsibilities, especially 

during these dreadful months, when the Union 
forces were indeed pushing on to victory, but at a fearful 
cost in blood and treasure. Though it was clear that under 
Grant's terrific blows the Confederacy could not last much 
longer, Lincoln was surrounded by unfriendly 
Lincoln's critics. Some of the public men of the Presi- 

dent's own party were opposed to him, and some 
were making plans to defeat him in the coming election. 
All through his term he had been troubled and harassed by 
political squabbles and quarrels, but in the spring and early 
summer of 1864 there were new dangers and annoyances. 

Even Secretary Chase had for a time been nursing presi- 
dential ambitions, and his candidacy was urged by many of 

* Thomas was a Virginian, but refused to follow his State into re- 
bellion. He was one of the most successful generals of the war, shrewd, 
careful, thorough. He knew not defeat, and always fought with the 
utmost coolness, precision, and energy. He was modest and unpresum- 
ing, yet few were so competent to command. Dodge says : " He perhaps 
falls as little short of the model soldier as any man produced by this 
country." 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 



461 



Chase resigns. 



Lincoln's opponents. It was soon proved that Lincoln had 
the people behind him. They sympathized with him and 
felt his worth. Chase saw, before long, that 
his candidacy was hopeless. He was doubtless 
ambitious, but he can not be charged with duplicity or 
underhand dealing. His relations with the President, how- 
ever, became so strained that he gave up his secretaryship. 
William Pitt Fessenden, of Maine, was put in his place, and 
proved a very able and efficient officer. 

In May a " mass convention " assembled at Cleveland. 
It was made up of the fault-finders who were out of all pa- 
tience with what they consid- 
ered Lincoln's lack of vigor 
and administrative 

Fremont power. The con- 

nommated. •*• . . 

vention nominated 
John C. Fremont for the presi- 
dency, and John Cochrane for 
the vice-presidency. But the 
movement was not taken seri- 
ously by the people, and Fre- 
mont finally withdrew, deliv- 
ering as a parting shot the 
assertion that Lincoln's ad- 
ministration was "politically, 
militarily, and financially a 
failure." 

When the Republican Convention met there was not 
the slightest doubt of Lincoln's nomination. The Union 
people of the whole North, in a great many 
different ways, had announced in unmistakable 
language that he was their only choice. He 
was nominated unanimously on the first ballot.* Thus the 
fault-finding of ambitious and quarrelsome leaders and 

* The Missouri delegation voted for Grant, but changed this vote so 
that Lincoln could be nominated unanimously. 




Lincoln 
renominated 



i62 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

critical newspapers was of absolutely no avail before the 
wish of the nation. There was some trouble in choosing 
the vice-president. It was felt by many that it would be 
the part of wisdom to nominate a war Democrat — some one 
who had belonged to the Democratic party before the war, 
but who was now working in harmony with the Eepublicans. 
Because of this feeling Hannibal Hamlin was not renomi- 
nated, and the choice of the convention fell upon Andrew 
Johnson, of Tennessee. A platform was adopted declaring 
in favor of the complete suppression of the rebellion, and 
announcing " that as slavery was the cause and now con- 
stitutes the strength of this rebellion, and as it must be 
always and everywhere hostile to the principles of republi- 
can government, justice and the national safety demand 
its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the 
republic." 

The Democratic party nominated Gen. George B. Mc- 

Clellan for the presidency, and George H. Pendleton, of 

Ohio, for the vice-presidency. The convention 

McCiolian demanded that "immediate efforts be made 

nommated. 

for a cessation of hostilities with a view to an 
ultimate convention of all the States, or other peaceable 
means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment 
peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal union of 
the States." The war was declared a failure, and various 
acts of the President were denounced as usurpation "of 
extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the 
Constitution." 

The presidential campaign was a very earnest and 
serious contest. The Eepublicans felt that everything was 
at stake and put forth every endeavor, while 
the Democrats were more successful in holding 
their forces together than might have been expected — a 
result due in large part to the fact that McClellan partly 
repudiated the platform by announcing himself in favor of 
peace, but only on terms that would preserve the Union. 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN-1861-1865. 463 

While the political discussions were in progress at the 
North, Sherman won his great victory over Hood at 
Atlanta. Under such circumstances the declaration that 
the war was a failure lost much of its force. Sherman's 
telegram, " Atlanta is ours, and fairly won," gave new 
courage and great joy to the supporters of the Administra- 
tion. Lincoln was elected by a large electoral majority, 
receiving two hundred and twelve votes against twenty-one 
for his opponent. The Democrats carried only New Jersey, 
Delaware, and Kentucky. 

It will be remembered that the Emancipation Proclama- 
tion declared free all slaves within those parts of the 
Thirteenth South then in open rebellion. This was con- 
amendment fessedly a war measure — like any other confisca- 
in Congress. ^^^^ ^f property, an act of war. It did not 
destroy slavery in the States not in rebellion. Moreover, 
some persons believed that the President had exceeded his 
authority in issuing such a proclamation. In the early 
part of 1864 a vote on the question of submitting a consti- 
tutional amendment abolishing slavery everywhere was 
taken in Congress. The necessary two-thirds vote could 
not be secured in the House, though the Senate passed the 
measure by a large majority. After the election, carried 
by the Eepublicans on a distinctly anti-slavery platform, 
abolition assumed new strength. The President in his 
annual message advocated the adoption of the amendment. 
A great debate in the House followed. The vote was one 
hundred and nineteen ayes to fifty-six noes — seven more 
than the required two thirds. In the homely, truthful 
phrase of Lincoln, the " great job " was ended. 

It was still necessary that three fourths of the States 
should ratify.* But this ratification was assured. This 
amendment declared that " neither slavery nor involuntary 

* This was done in the course of the yeiar. In December, 1865, a 
proclamation was issued declaring that the thirteenth amendment was 
added to the Constitution. 



464 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the 
party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within 
the United States or any place subject to their 
Adopted in jurisdiction." Thus the principle of the ordi- 

nance of 1787 was, in almost the exact words of 
that document, made applicable to the whole Union ; the 
great curse that had separated the American people into 
two bitterly hostile sections was to be cast aside for ever. 
The hopes of the future were for reorganization, a re-estab- 
lishment of sympathy and fellow-feeling between North 
and South, now that the cause of enmity and division was 
no more. As Lincoln pointed out, the amendment meant 
the " maintenance " of the Union. 

In giving this account of political matters we have 

passed by the military events of the winter and spring of 

1865, events which made abolition of slavery 

Military affairs. ,^ i t • o i en 

"^ more than words. Leaving Savannah, Sher- 

man marched north through the Carolinas, harassed but 
not long retarded by the Confederates under Johnston. 
Grant still held Lee at Eichmond and Petersburg. The 
end was evidently near at hand. March saw some sharp 
fighting along the line ; but the Confederates were daily 
growing weaker, and Lee was getting anxious 
to break away and to push southward and form 
a junction with Johnston. If this were done, Sherman 
might perhaps be crushed before Grant could get to his 
support. Grant watched Lee with caution and anxiety. A 
few severe and bloody engagements occurred, but without 
bringing the end. Grant handled his immense army with 
great ability, and with full comprehension of his task. Lee 
fought with desperation and his accustomed skill. The 
Union army was steadily winding itself more closely about 
the doomed Confederate army and capital. Grant guarded 
Lee cautiously, lest he disappear to the South or West and 
leave but empty defences behind him. 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 465 

At length Lee slipped away in the night (April 2, 3). 

Grant entered Eichmond and began a hot pursuit. The 

ragged, starving, brave, disheartened Oonfed- 

Lee surrenders, urates made their way westward, harassed at 

April 9, 1865. i i • 

every step by the pursuing cavalry. If they 
were to escape at all, it must be by the narrow strip of land 
between the Appomattox and James rivers.* But Sheridan 
planted himself in the way. Lee was surrounded. On the 
9th of April he surrendered. Grant gave generous and 
wise terms. The Confederates were released on parole, 
" not to take up arms against the Government of the United 
States until properly exchanged"; the officers and men 
were to return to their homes, " not to be disturbed by the 
United States authority so long as they observe their 
paroles and the laws in force where they reside." This 
last statement looked like an assumption of the pardoning 
power by Grant ; but its generosity, coming from a victori- 
ous general on the field of battle, merits unstinted praise, 
and it had doubtless influence in pointing out to the North 
the path of wise self-restraint in days of victory and exulta- 
tion. Johnston surrendered to Sherman on the 26th of 
April. 

The great civil war was at an end. The North had put 
forth its energy and crushed all opposition, pouring into the 

field an army as large as the fabulous host of 
Jnder' Xerxes. The armies of the East and the West 

had fought with courage and devotion. " All 
that it was possible for men to do in battle they have done," 
said Grant, and he knew whereof he spoke. The mistaken 
South, hugging her pet vice, slavery, as a viper to her 
bosom, had fought with a spirit, a heroism, and a courage 
that tempt us to forget the cause and prompt us only to 
remember that from Key West to the St. Croix all now are 
brethren of a common country. Grant's words in address- 
ing his former comrades in arms are well chosen: "Let 

* Read Dodge, Bird's-eye View of the Civil War, pp. 313-318. 



4:66 HISTORY OF THE AMEPJCAN NATION. 

them hope for perpetual peace and harmony with that 
enemy whose manhood, however mistaken the cause, drew 
forth such herculean deeds of yalor." 

The efforts of the South to sustain the war had been 
magnificent. "We have seen how dependent the Southern 

people were on outside products. There were 
Si^sllth. ^^"^ factories of any kind. The very arms with 

which to fight needed to be smuggled througli 
the blockade, or, before the Mississippi was under Federal 
control, wearily brought across Texas from Mexico. After 
the capture of Mobile the country was almost completely 
surrounded. Occasionally a blockade runner succeeded 
in slipping through the barriers and bringing in supplies 
from Europe ; yet such accidental aid helped but little. 
The Confederacy was day by day, and month by month, 
strangled by the toils of the immense army and navy that 
encompassed it. The people fought with desperation, and 
yet we need not believe that all were anxious to enter the 
army ; a year before the North resorted to the draft, the 
Confederate congress took the same step, and before the 
end of the war it was determined even to enroll slaves as 
troops. Money was almost unattainable. When once the 
Confederacy was shut off from the civilized world, borrow- 
ing Avas practically impossible. Paper money was issued 
by the million dollars, " payable six months after the close 
of the war." This paper fell down, down, as the prospects 
of the Confederacy grew dimmer. In May, 1864, a clerk in 
Eichmond entered these prices in his diary : " Boots, two 
hundred dollars ; coats, three hundred and fifty dollars ; 
pantaloons, one hundred dollars ; . . . flour, two hundred 
and seventy-five dollars per barrel ; . . . bacon, nine dollars 
per pound ; . . . potatoes, twenty-five dollars per bushel ; 
. . . wood, fifty dollars per cord." 

Thus it was that the South was beaten — not because 
the people could not fight, or because they were not willing 
to bear privation and hardships. History, perhaps, shows 



ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 467 

no parallel to the brave constancy of Lee's men in the fearful 
campaign of 1864-65, when they must have seen that under 
Grant's terrific hammering they could not long 
defeated endure. The men who stayed at home on the 

the South. plantations, and, above all, the women — for 

they were, the greatest sufferers from actual want — endured 
their trials with great resolution and cheerfulness. It was 
not lack of bravery, skill, or determination that defeated 
the South. It was slavery. While the lumber, iron, and coal 
of the North were put to service by an intelligent people, 
whose every industrial success prompted to new energy, 
the South was laboring under a destructive system which 
had been abandoned by every other part of the Teutonic 
race ; and the fearful penalty of slavery was civil war and 
disastrous, overwhelming defeat. 

The Union was preserved. The greatest civil war in 
history determined that the American republic must en- 
dure; but the cost was enormou3. Not count- 
The losses of jj^g ^|-^g ^^^^ ^1^^ ^-^^ ^^ home as a result of 

the war.. ° 

wounds received in battle or exposure in the 
line of duty, over 300,000 Northern men gave up their lives 
for their country. The loss of the South could have been 
but little less. From all causes, the nation lost nearly a 
million of its able-bodied men. 

At the close of the war there were 1,000,516 men in the 

Northern army. The receipts of the Government by tax- 

..., . ation during the four years were not far from 

Its awfol cost. dr o 

$800,000,000, but this was only a small portion 

of the amount which was expended. Money was spent with 

lavish profusion. The total debt at the end of the war was 

A . ,o«c 1^,844,649,626. But one can not count the 
August, 1865. 1 

real cost of these four years of destruction, when 

hundreds of thousands of men were taken from remunera- 
tive employment, to spend their energies in bringing deso- 
lation and in killing their fellows. The North offered up 
a great sacrifice for union and for the perpetuation of the 



4:68 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Government. But the sacrifice of the South was greater. 
Figures can give no idea of what it cost the South to de- 
fend slavery and her chosen constitutional principles. She 
offered up her very life. At the end of the war the whole 
country was desolate. Poverty was the lot of men who 
had been reared in luxury. For four years Virginia had 
been a battlefield. The more southern and western States 
fared but little better. The rebellion had been starved to 
death; and when the soldiers left the army and sought 
their homes, they were confronted by want and desolation. 
The courage with which men took up their new lives was 
no less great than their bravery in war. 

The immense Union army of a million soldiers was dis- 
banded. The men went quietly back to the farm, the 

counting-house, or the workshop. Within a 
disbSd. ^^^ weeks this huge army was absorbed back 

into the body of the people. There was no 
violence, no license, no rioting. The volunteer soldier 
showed his sense and self-restraint by becoming an ordinary 
citizen once more. 

References. 

The best short accounts for political events are Wilson, Division 
and Reunion, pp. 210-288; Schurz, Abraham Lincoln; G. Smith, 
The United States, pp. 238-280; Julian, Political Recollections, pp. 
181-259; Lothrop, Seward, pp. 246-396; Morse, Abraham Lincoln, 
Volume I, Chapters IX and XII, Volume II, Chapters I, IV, VI, 
IX, XII; Burgess, Civil War and the Constitution; Hart, Salmon 
P. Chase, 178-319; Adams, Charles Francis Adams, 117-345. Po- 
litical events at the South : Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 
239-252. For military events : Church, U. S. Grant, Chapters V 
to XVIII; White, Robert E. Lee; Dodge, Bird's-eye View of the 
Civil War ; Rossiter Johnson, Short History of the War of Secession ; 
Owen Wister, Ulysses S. Grant; Hapgood, Abraham Lincoln; 
Hosmer, The Appeal to Arms and Outcome of the Civil War. See 



CHAPTER XVIL 
Political and Social Reconstruction— 1865-1877. 

ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JOHNSON— 1865-1869. 

The war was ended. But while the people of the whole 

N'orth were giving themselves up to joy and thanksgiving, 

there came the awful tidings that President 

The death of Lincoln had been assassinated. He was shot 

Lincoln I 

in his box at Ford's theater on the evening of 
April 14th, by John Wilkes Booth, a worthless melodramatic 
actor, who seems to have longed for notoriety, and to 
have sought this dastardly revenge for Southern wrongs 
and sufferings. The same evening Seward was assaulted 
at his home and grievously wounded. Lincoln died the 
next morning. There proved to be a plot, in which there 
were a number of conspirators, whose purpose seems to 
have been the assassination of several of the more 
prominent men to whom the country was looking for 
guidance. Booth was, however, the chief conspirator and 
the, head and front of the enterprise. He was pursued and 
shot. Several of the conspirators were arrested and tried. 
Four were hanged, three imprisoned for life, and one for a 
term of years. 

The North mourned Lincoln's loss with sincere sorrow. 
There came to each loyal heart a sense of keen personal 

affliction and bitter grief. The "plain peo- 
A loss to the pie» 1^^^ ^^^^ ^Q ^ ^l^gjj. President, to 

nation. ^ ' 

trust him and to love him as no other public 
man has been loved in our history. Tliey felt that his 
death foreboded trouble, and mayhap disaster. Could Lin- 

469 



470 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

coin have lived, the great task of reorganizing the shattered 
fabric of the Union might have been accomplished without 
begetting strong partisan bitterness or violence ; perhaps the 
long period of estrangement between the North and South 
might have been shortened. Vice-President Andrew John- 
son assumed the presidency without delay, and the Gov- 
ernment went on with its work. There was no anarchy or 
confusion in the conduct of its business. Eepublican gov- 
ernment never received a severer test. 

The new President was a man of vigor, of strong con- 
victions, and of set purposes. He belonged to the poor 
whites of Tennessee, and had in youth no more 
anSaracfr draining or advantages than one of his class 
was apt to have. He had reached manhood 
before learning even to read and write. His determina- 
tion and zeal, however, carried him forward in political 
life. Before his nomination to the vice-presidency he had 
been in the lower House of Congress, Governor of Tennessee, 
and United States Senator. By refusing to follow his 
State into secession he had won attention and renown at 
the North. He was strikingly unsuited to the enormous 
task that awaited him. Conscientious and patriotic he 
was, no doubt ; but he was narrow, dogmatic,. and obstinate. 
He was a man of much native ability, but coming, as did 
Lincoln, from the most humble surroundings, he had not 
Lincoln's native culture and sweetness, nor the faculty of 
winning men and of feeling sympathy with them. He was 
unbending in all his fiber. 

The difficulties that confronted Johnson's administra- 
tion were many and arduous. The South was in a condi- 
tion of poverty, a condition bordering on help- 
Jfthftimr' lessness. There were no legal State govern- 
ments, no civil officers with legal authority to 
act. Millions of men born in bondage were now free, and 
had no knowledge of how to use their freedom, or how to 
earn their daily bread without direction. There was not 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHNSON— 1865-1869. 471 

much turbulence, for the negroes did not fully realize their 
new situation, and the whites were exhausted after the four 
terrible years of strife. How could order be brought to the 
weary and distracted South ? How could industry be estab- 
lished on a new basis ? How could the relation between the 
two races be determined ? Were the States themselves to be 
allowed to solve all their problems as each one saw fit, or 
was the National Government to intervene and endeavor 
to shape Southern institutions? Was the North to take 
full advantage of its victory, and insist upon raising the 
black man to a place by the side of his late master in social 
and political right, or was political power to be left solely in 
the hands of the men who had waged war against the 
nation ? These were questions of the greatest importance. 
Some of them only time could answer. However much 
might be done by way of legislation, time was needed to 
bring anything like a solution of the new labor problem of 
the South, or to establish suitable social relations between 
the negroes and whites. 

Moreover, questions arose concerning the right of the 

Federal Government to do anything about the internal 

affairs of the States, or to treat them in any 

^■!f ^\x. way save as members of the Union, with full 

difficulties. . *; , . ., 

rights and privileges. It was argued, on tlie 
one hand, that the war had been conducted on the prin- 
ciple that the States could not go out of the Union, and it 
was maintained that, if they could not go out, they were 
now in, on terms of equality with the other States. But, 
on the other hand, the leading Eepublicans now declared 
that the States had, at least to some extent, forfeited their 
rights as States, and that, before they were once more re- 
instated in their constitutional relations, certain reforms 
should be brought about. These men wished to have as- 
surance that the war was actually over and that the negro 
was safe from molestation. Some of the leaders — men like 
Charles Sumner — looked upon the war as a great struggle 



472 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN' NATION. 

for human freedom, and were unwilling to consider that 
the real contest was finished until the freemen were given 
the right to vote and were in possession of social as well as 
political privileges. We need not consider at length the 
legal arguments upon which the Republicans based their 
assertion that Congress had power to declare that the 
Southern States were not immediately entitled to repre- 
sentation in Congress or to their full rights as members of 
the Union. That men did seek to find legal justification 
for their every action is of interest, because it shows that 
the people were still regardful of legal rights and prin- 
ciples even at the end of the greatest civil conflict in his- 
tory which in many a nation would have been destructive 
of all rights save those of brute force. But the North felt 
that the South must be reorganized, and it is of little real 
moment what was the legal theory or fiction on which Con- 
gress based its action. Republican plans as to what steps 
should be taken matured somewhat slowly. By no means 
the whole party was ready at first to follow its extreme 
leaders in endeavoring to establish negro suffrage in the 
Sou til ; but the whole party did desire that steps be taken 
to make the safety of the freedmen certain. 

The President issued (May 29, 1865) a proclamation of 
amnesty, offering to pardon all persons that had been en- 
gaged in the late rebellion, save certain classes of persons 
who were to apply specially for pardon. All who availed 
themselves of the offer of amnesty were to take an oatli of 
loyalty and pledge themselves to support Federal laws, 
including the emancipation proclamation. 

At the same time Johnson began his system of recon- 
struction by appointing provisional governors for the 
J , , Southern States. Each governor was author- 

method of ized to provide for the assembling of a conven- 

feoonstruotion. ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^i^ ^-[^q^. ^^ amend the State Con- 
stitution and provide for the establishment of the State in 
its constitutional relations. 



ADMINISTRATION OP JOHNSON— 1865-1869. 473 

Tliis plan of the President seemed to give the power 
into the hands of the white people of the South and to 
. make no provision for the freedmen. It was 

by the therefore opposed by the great majority of the 

Eepublicans. Eopublican party, inasmuch as they believed in 
keeping the Southern States under the control of the*Na- 
tional Government until the negro was secure in his rights. 
The opposition to the President would not have been so 
bitter had it not been for two things : (1) Johnson showed 
himself headstrong and utterly lacking in tact ; (2) the 
Southern States, organized under the President's direction, 
began to pass laws that bore heavily upon the freedmen — 
laws that seemed to have the object of making the negro to 
all intents and purposes a slave again. It was quite evi- 
dent that even those acts that appeared harmless might 
easily be enforced so as practically to establish involuntary 
servitude within a State contrary to the Thirteenth Amend- 
ment, which, it will be remembered, was just at this time 
adopted and put in force.* 

When Congress met in December, 1865, many were an- 
noyed at the President's haste, and were determined that 
the Southern States should not be allowed 
chlrgTd^e^ their full constitutional rights until the negro 
Southern was fully protected from unjust legislation, 

pro em. -g^^^ when Congress passed an act providing 

for a bureau for the relief of freedmen and refugees, John- 
son vetoed it. Immediately upon the reception of this veto 
Congress passed a joint resolution declaring that no senator 
or representative should be admitted into either branch of 
Congress from any one of the States lately in rebellion 
until such State was declared by Congress entitled to 
such representation. By this means Congress could com- 
pel the States to accept certain regulations that were 
deemed essential. An open rupture between the President 
and the party that elected him might have been avoided 

* December, 1865. 
32 



474 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

even yet, perhaps, or at least delayed, had Johnson not 
begun to make intemperate and unbecoming speeches, de- 
nouncing the Congress as " no Congress," and even charg- 
ing individual members with opposition to the fundamental 
" principles of this Government " and with " laboring to 
destroy them." 

Somewhat later in the session a Civil Rights bill was 
passed. The intention of the act was to establish the 
equality of the races in the Southern States, to 
R-^^t^^u P^^ *^® freedmen under the protection of Na- 
tional law and National officers, safe from per- 
secution or molestation at the will or caprice of a State. 
It declared, among other things, that " all persons born in 
the United States and not subject to any foreign power " 
were citizens of the United States. This act was vetoed, 
but was promptly passed over the veto. Congress was no 
longer in a submissive mood. 

It was next determined to put the Civil Rights bill into 
the form of a constitutional amendment, where its prin- 
ciples would be permanent and safe from vio- 
The rourteenth jation. The Fourteenth Amendment was 

MieiiQineiiti 

therefore agreed upon and offered to the States 
(June, 1866) for adoption. It declared that " all persons 
born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to 
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States 
and of the State wherein they reside." It declared that no 

State should make or enforce any law abridg- 
ts rst section. -^^ ^|^^ j; privileges or immunities of citizens 
of the United States," or deprive any person of " life, 
liberty, or property without due process of law," or deny to 
any person " the equal protection of the laws." The Re- 
publicans saw that by the freeing of the blacks they had 
actually increased the political strength of the Southern 
States, because the three-fifths rule * would no longer ap- 



* See Constitution, art. i, sec. ii, g 3. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHNSON— 1865-1869. 475 

ply, but all the negroes would be counted in determining 
the representative population. Some were desirous of giv- 
ing the negroes the suffrage immediately by 
Its second ;N"ational act. Others hesitated. All, however, 

desired to prevent the Southern States from 
reaping this political advantage from emancipation, unless 
they allowed the blacks to vote. It was therefore decided 
that if the negroes Avere not given the suffrage by a State 
voluntarily, they should not be counted in determining the 
basis of representation. For these reasons the second sec- 
tion of the Fourteenth Amendment was added, providing 
that if the right to vote were denied to any of the male 
inhabitants of a State, being twenty-one years of age and 
citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, ex- 
cept as punishment for crime, the basis of representation 
should "be reduced in the proportion which the number 
of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of 
male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State." The 
amendment also provided for excluding from 

Itsthird Federal and State office the most prominent 

section. ^ 

persons engaged in the war against the Govern- 
ment until such disability were removed by Congress. It 

was expressly stated that the validity of the 
Its fourth National debt should not be questioned, but the 

section. ^ 

debts incurred in and for the rebellion should 
not be assumed by the " United States or any State." 

Such was the Fourteenth Amendment, by far the great- 
est change made in the Constitution since its adoption. 
T^ , ,. , There was some difficulty, as we shall see, in 

It makes radical . • o i a 

changes in the securing its ratification, the Southern States 
Constitution. refusing to accept it ; two years passed before 
it was finally ratified (1868), but we may notice at this 
time how it modified the Constitution when once it be- 
came a part of the fundamental law. Before this amend- 
ment was passed the subject of suffrage was solely a State 
affair, as long as the State had a " republican form of gov- 



476 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

ernment." So, too, the State had complete control over its 
citizens and could be as tyrannical as it saw fit, provided 
that it did not interfere with the relations between a per- 
son and the National Government or violate the few ex- 
press prohibitions in the National Constitution. By this 
amendment the nation intervened to protect the citizen of 
the State against unjust legislation or action of a State, 
Thus it will be seen the situation had entirely altered from 
what it Avas in 1788-'90. Then it was thought necessary to 
shield the citizen from the possible tyranny of the National 
Government, and to this end the first ten amendments 
were adopted. 

Meantime the controversy between the President and 
Congress waxed hotter. Johnson vetoed the most impor- 

. , tant bill's, and Congress passed them over his 

Congress in veto. In this way, in the course of a year, the 
open enmity. most essential measures were made law for the 
purpose of carrying out the congressional idea of " recon- 
structing the Southern States." In spite of the President's 
objections, a measure known as the Freedmen's Bureau bill, 
providing for the relief and assistance to the Southern ne- 
groes, became law. Nebraska at this time was admitted to 
the Union. 

In March, 1867, Congress passed the Civil Tenure 

bill. This provided that a person appointed to office by 

the President and approved by the Senate 

Tennreof should hold office till another person was ap- 

OfficeAct. . . . . ^ T p 1 

pointed to the position with approval of the 

Senate, and that members of the Cabinet should hold office 
for the term of the President appointing them and one 
month thereafter, " subject to removal by and with the 
advice and consent of the Senate." An officer might, how- 
ever, be suspended while the Senate was not in session, and 
the place given for the time being to some other person. 

During the fall and winter (186G-'67) the Southern 
States, perhaps encouraged by the quarrel between Johnson 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHNSON— 1805-1869. 4^7 

and liis party, rejected the Fourteenth Amendment. As 
a consequence new reconstruction measures were deter- 
mined upon and duly enacted. Congress pro- 
Congressioiial ^^^^^ f^^, ^^^^ division of the South into five 

reconstruction. t . i • ,i 

mihtary districts, each to be m the charge 01 a 
general aided by "a sufficient military force." This officer 
was to keep order and to have wide powers of government. 
Under his guidance a State was to elect a convention, 
adopt a constitution granting the suffrage to blacks and 
whites alike, and ratify through its legislature the Four- 
teenth Amendment. When this was done and approved^ 
the State was to be allowed representation in Congress. 

In the summer of this year (1867) Johnson requested 
the resignation of Stanton, his Secretary of War, " because 

of public considerations of a high character." 
The President rpj-^g j.^^ j^^^-^^ were incompatible, and Stanton 

impeacnea. 

had long been hostile to Johnson and his 
policy. He refused to resign, because of " public considera- 
tions of a high character." Johnson suspended him in ac- 
cordance with the provision of the Tenure of Office act. 
When the Senate met it refused to agree to this suspension. 
The President then removed Stanton from the office and 
gave the portfolio to General Lorenzo Thomas. The 411 
feeling was now so great that the Eepublicans determined 
to resort to impeachment to get rid of their obnoxious 
executive. In March, 1868, articles of impeachment were 
presented by the House at the bar of the Senate. The 
chief charge was violation of the Tenure of Office act by the 
removal of Stanton. The trial lasted nearly two months. 
Chief Justice Chase presided with dignity and impartiality. 
The ceremony was watched with interest and curiosity in 
America and Europe. The result of the trial was acquittal. 
The majority lacked one vote of the necessary two thirds. 
Seven Republican senators voted against conviction. They 
believed that the President should be entitled to remove 
his subordinates. It is now generally believed that im- 



478 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

peacliment was unwise and that conviction would have 
been unjust. 

Before the end of 1868 most of the States were fully 
re-established in their constitutional relations or "read- 
mitted to the Union." Provision had been 
"reconstructed" i^^^de lor the admission 01 lennessee soon 
by congressional after the close of the war. North Carolina, 
™^* ° ' South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, 

and Arkansas were admitted to representation in Congress 
in 1868. Seward was enabled to announce, July 28, 1868, 
that the Fourteenth Amendment had become part of the 
Constitution. 

The Southern States during these years and for some 

time afterward were in an unfortunate condition. The 

more influential white men were kept out of 

Carpet-bag office bv the congressional policy because they 

governmentSi jo x ./ »/ 

had taken part in the war. This left the con- 
trol of the convention and the legislature, when once civil 
government was established, to the more ignorant white 
people and to the negroes, who had no fitness for the diffi- 
cult tasks that needed attention. Men from other States 
came upon the scene and became political leaders, taking 
advantage of the ignorant blacks to win for themselves 
power and influence. These men were called "carpet- 
baggers." The governments set up under their direction 
were incompetent and woefully corrupt. Doubtless some of 
the Northern men that went to the South at this time 
were neither corrupt nor influenced by unworthy motives, 
but so many were merely unscrupulous adventurers, quite 
devoid of principle, that all were called " carpet-baggers " 
and looked upon with suspicion. The Southern people 
were in their turn intolerant, and occasionally guilty of 
outrages against Northern men. The ill feeling between 
the sections, therefore, had as yet diminished little, if at all. 
The white people under negro and " carpet-bag " rule were 
bitter in their hatred of Eepublican reconstruction, while 



ADMINISTRATION OF JOHNSON— 1865-1869. 479 

every month seemed to harden the Northern leaders in the 
belief that the " ex-rebels " were not to be trusted. 

Several difficult and interesting foreign questions arose 
during Johnson's administration. Soon after the begin- 
ning of our civil war France had sent troops 
oreign airs. .^^^^ Mexico, Overthrown the republican gov- 
ernment there, and established an empire, with Maximilian, 
an archduke of Austria, as emperor. During the war 
Seward had cautiously protested ; but now that there was 
peace at home, France was given very distinctly to under- 
stand that the presence of her troops in Mexico was ob- 
noxious to the United States. Our Government has for 
many decades held the opinion that European countries 
must not extend their systems in this hemisphere against 
the will and wish of the American Union. Upon receiving 
the peremptory demand from Seward, Napoleon III withdrew 
his army. The luckless Maximilian, left to his fate, was 
captured by Mexican troops, tried by court martial, and 
shot. 

In 1867 the United States bought Alaska from Russia 
for 17,200,000. This purchase added 531,409 square miles 
to the National domain. In the eighty years 
^urchase *^^^ ^^^ elapsed since the formation of the 

constitution the territory of the Union had 
increased fourfold. In 1787 it was 819,815 square miles. 
After the purchase of Alaska it was 3,501,509 square 
miles.* 

No less important than other events of this stormy ad- 
ministration was the final laying of the Atlantic cable. In 
the summer of 1866 the cable was laid and 
The Atlantic used. The commercial and political impor- 
tance of this frail connection between America 
and Europe can hardly be overestimated. Trade was put 

* These figures are somewhat differently given by different authori- 
ties. The United States census gives the total area, without Alaska, 
as 3,025,601. 



480 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

on a new basis, for the condition of the European mar- 
kets could be read in New York each morning. The 
political relations between the Old and the New World 
were simplified. 

For the election of 1868 General Grant seemed the only 
possible candidate for the Eepublicans. The party con- 
tained many able leaders with far more political 
^n868^*^°^ experience, but he was the center of interest 
and attention. The quiet, relentless deter- 
mination with which he had carried on the war had com- 
pletely captured the public imagination. He was unani- 
mously nominated on the first ballot in the convention, 
amid great demonstrations of enthusiasm. Schuyler Colfax, 
of Indiana, was nominated for the vice-presidency. The 
platform congratulated the country on the success of the 
reconstruction policy of Congress ; it pledged the party to 
maintain equal suffrage for all loyal men; it denounced 
AndrcAV Johnson and his methods, and promised the pay- 
ment of military bounties and pensions and full payment 
of the National debt. The Democrats nominated Horatio 
Seymour, of New York, and Francis P. Blair, Jr., of 
Missouri. The platform demanded immediate restoration 
of all the States to their rights in the Union, amnesty for 
all political offenses, economy and reform in office. It ar- 
raigned " the Eadical party " for its " unparalleled op- 
pression and tyranny," appealed to all patriots to unite in 
the " great struggle for the liberties of the people," and de- 
clared that Johnson was " entitled to the gratitude of the 
whole American people." The result of the election was 
at no time doubtful. There was great enthusiasm for 
Grant at the North, while at the South the electoral vote 
was in nearly every State cast for the Eepublican candi- 
date, because the freedmen were all of that party, and 
many of the white men were not allowed to vote. Grant 
received two hundred and fourteen electoral votes, and 
Seymour eighty. 



ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT -1869-1877. 481 

Before closing the account of this administration we 
should notice that something had been done to reduce the 
immense war debt, and that the nation was in 
Matenal many ways prosperous. The highest point 

that the debt ever reached was in the summer 
of 1865, when it amounted to the enormous total of $2,844,- 
649,626, a burden of 184 on each person in the United 
States. In 1869 it amounted to $64.43 per capita. The 
nation showed remarkable powers of recuperation, after the 
long and destructive war. 



References. 

The best short accounts are in Wilson, Division and Reunion, 
pp. 254-273 ; Dawes, Charles Sumner, pp. 214-273 ; Lothrop, 
William H, Seward, Chapter XXI ; Moore, American Congress, pp. 
402-435; Lalor, Cyclopjedia, Volume III, pp. 540-556; Burgess, 
Reconstruction and the Constitution; Dunning, Reconstruction, Po- 
litical and Economic. 



ADMINISTRATION OP ULYSSES S. GRANT, 1869-1877. 

When General Grant took the presidential chair he 
had had no experience in politics, no training in civil 

duties. He was a graduate of West Point, and 
STt^^^ had served with distinction in the Mexican 

War. At the outbreak of the rebellion he 
occupied a humble position as a private citizen. His 
success as a general gave him world-wide reputation, and 
he was hailed by the enthusiastic North as the savior of 
his country. He was a man of strict, unswerving honesty, 
and of pure motives. He was direct and incisive in his 
methods of thought and action. It may be doubted 
whether his talents,* that so well fitted him for conducting 
a great aggressive war, were equally well adapted to the no 
less difficult tasks of peace. Downright and upriglit him- 
self, he was not always successful in winning and holding 



482 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Problems of 
the time. 



the best men of his party by giving them frank confidence ; 
nor did he have great insight into the weaknesses of the 
men about him. These characteristics account, in part, 
for some of the difficulties of his administration. 

The times were trying ones. One can hardly imagine 
greater or more troublesome tasks than those confronting 
the American Government in these years. The 
people were undoubtedly showing a remarkable 
capacity for self-government and self-restraint. 
They submitted quietly to the payment of enormous taxes ; 
they were honestly and without ostentation bent upon pay- 
ing the great war debt with all 
reasonable speed. A million 
soldiers who had been quiet- 
ly absorbed into the peaceful 
community seemed to have 
forgotten military arts or am- 
bition. But spite of all this 
the period was full of diffi- 
culties. There were grave 
international questions to be 
settled, and internal problems 
that called for wise solution. 
Not till about 1871 were all 
the Southern States in posses- 
sion of their full constitu- 
tional rights, and even when 
politically " reconstructed " they were of course internally 
still in some confusion. Many of their people still felt re- 
sentment toward the North. A reconstruction of sentiment 
between North and South could come only in the course of 
years, as the result of generous fair-mindedness in the one 
section and sensible self-control in the other. Moreover, 
in many ways the war had brought disorganization into the 
National Government ; the details of administration, which 
are of the utmost importance in time of peace, could not 




^. ^ ^u^-J^ 



ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 483 

be carefully watched and guided in time of a great civil 
war. Furthermore, the war had had a demoralizing influ- 
ence in some respects. It is true that it called forth 
patriotism, prompted men to mercy, and stirred men's 
hearts to lofty motives. No war that is waged for country 
and to free millions of human beings from slavery can be, 
on the whole, bad in its effects on the moral make-up of 
the nation. But war is brutal, and its brutality is apt to 
leave the curse of selfishness and greed behind it. The 
great mass of the people were honest and moral ; but the 
troublesome time of war encouraged some men to believe 
that it was legitimate to take advantage of the Government 
and to get rich by stealth at the public expense. 

Before the end of Johnson's term the Eepublicans de- 
termined to give the negro the ballot without qualification. 

The Fourteenth Amendment allowed the 
Amenimeiit States to determine for themselves what the 

basis of suffrage should be. If the right to vote 
were denied to any of the male citizens twenty-one years 
old, or in any way abridged, the basis of representation in 
Congress might be cut down. This provision was not en- 
forced, and from that day to this has remained inoperative. 
In 1869 the Fifteenth Amendment was submitted to the 
States for adoption. It declared : " The right of citizens 
of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged 
by the United States or by any State on account of race, 
color, or previous condition of servitude." Secretary Fish 
announced, March 30, 1870, that it had "become valid to 
all intents and purposes, as part of the Constitution of the 
United States." 

The acceptance of the Fifteenth Amendment as part of 
the fundamental law of the nation did not do away with 
the troubles and distress that grew out of the rebellion. The 
corruption of the carpet-bag governments, built on negro 
suffrage, was proof enough that slavery had been a poor 
schoolmaster for freedom. Some of the blacks quickly 



484 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

learned the vices of politics, and showed remarkable apti- 
tude in the art of reaping personal advantage from office. 
C rru tion ^^^ States that had been impoverished by four 

in the Sonthem years of war were plundered ruthlessly ; enor- 
States. mous debts were rolled up by extravagant 

and dishonest legislation. In South Carolina, where negro 
rule long prevailed because of the great number of blacks, 
the debt increased from about $5,500,000 in 1868 to over 
$20,000,000 in 1873. Some other States suffered almost as 
much. 

The Southern whites determined that negro rule must 
be ended by some means, lawful or unlawful. It seemed 
Opposition to ^^ them a matter of self-preservation. This 
carpet-hag feeling is well illustrated by the statement of 

government. ^ citizen of South Carolina: "To take the 
State . . . away from the intelligent white men and hand 
it over bodily to ignorant negroes just escaped from slavery 
. . . was nothing less than flat burglary on the theory and 
practice of representative government." In some of the 
States the negroes were in a minority; and where that 
was the case the government soon passed into the hands 
of the white people as a simple result of united action on 
their part. In other places, however, deplorable methods 
were adopted. The poorer and more ignorant white men, 
who had been reared amid the degrading influences of 
slavery, could not appreciate that the negro had rights 
that they were bound to respect. The luckless blacks were 
harassed and harried. An oath-bound order under the 
name of the Ku-Klux-Klan, throwing a veil of secrecy 
and mystery over all its doings, appeared here and there 
throughout the South, terrorizing the superstitious negro 
and overwhelming him with awe and dread. It is difficult 
from any evidence that we have to determine the exact 
origin or extent of the Ku-Klux movement. To Northern 
men it seemed that the whole South was conspiring to make 
national law inoperative, and to rob the negro of his rights. 



ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 485 

It was some years before the lawlessness and violence were 
stamped out. The intelligent people of the South finally 
united in efforts to put down this open violence and to es- 
tablish order, for they saw that there was a direct issue 
between law and anarchy. 

Because of these conditions in the South, Congress un- 
dertook to pass repressive measures. A series of acts were 
passed (1870-'72) the purposes of which were 

Force bills. ,n i. /• j? li, • i • 

the protection oi the negro m his new privi- 
leges and rights. The President was given authority to 
suppress insurrection whenever the State officers were un- 
able or unwilling to do so. He was also authorized, for a 
limited time, to suspend the privilege of the writ of Jiaheas 
corpus. The courts were assigned wide jurisdiction over 
cases in which persons claimed they had been deprived of 
rights, privileges, or immunities under the Constitution of 
the United States. These measures were called enforce- 
ment bills, or "force bills." By such means, by dint of 
energy on the part of the ^National Government and the co- 
operation of the more sensible of the Southern people, who 
realized the danger of tumult and anarchy, violent methods 
of intimidating the negro were done away with. For 
some time after this it seemed to the President necessary 
to use the Federal troops in order to secure free and fair 
elections in the Southern States. 

From the outbreak of the rebellion and the acknowledg- 
ment by Great Britain of the belligerency of the Confed- 
eracy our relations with that country had been 
ti:onWe*^^°^^ somewhat strained. Upon Grant's accession 
there were serious difficulties that demanded 
immediate settlement. Our Government asserted that Eng- 
land had not done her duty as a neutral ; that it was her duty 
to use diligence in an effort to prevent the arming or equip- 
ping of any armed vessel within her limits, and to prevent the 
departure of such a vessel to cruise against the commerce of 
a friendly nation ; that likewise a belligerent should not be 



486 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

permitted to make use of neutral ports as bases of naval oper- 
ation or for the purpose of getting military supplies ; and that 
Great Britain had been remiss in its duty, inasmuch as the 
Alabama and other Confederate cruisers had been fitted 
out in English harbors to prey upon American commerce 
even after the ministry had been given fair warning as to 
the character and purpose of the vessels. We insisted, 
therefore, that damages should be paid for the resulting 
injuries. 

Fortunately the two countries were wise enough not to 
make more havoc by fighting over their differences. In 
1871 a treaty between the two powers was 
The Treaty of signed at Washington, agreeing that all mat- 
ters of dispute should be submitted to arbitra- 
tion. The Alabama claims were to be passed upon by a 
court of five arbitrators appointed by Great Britain, the 
United States, Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil. 

This tribunal met at Geneva, Switzerland, and made a 
careful examination of the whole controversy. The Amer- 
The Geneva ^^^^ ^ overnment contended that our losses in- 
award, eluded not only the actual destruction of mer- 

i87i-'72. chantmen and cargoes, but "heavy national 

expenditures in the pursuit of the cruisers and in direct 
injury in the transfer of a large part of the American com- 
mercial marine to the British flag, in the enhanced pay- 
ments of insurance, in the prolongation of the war, and in 
the addition of a large sum to the cost of the war and the 
suppression of the rebellion." The arbitrators refused to 
allow compensation for the more indirect or remote dam- 
ages, but awarded to the United States 115,500,000 in gold 
as an indemnity to be paid by Great Britain in satisfaction 
for all claims. 

By the Treaty of Washington it was also agreed to leave 
to the Emperor of Germany as arbitrator the settlement of 
a dispute over the Northwestern boundary. In 184G the 
line between the American and British possessions had been 



ADMINISTEATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 487 

defined as following along the forty-ninth parallel " to the 
middle of the channel which separates the continent from 
Northwestern Vancouver's Island; and thence southerly 
boundary and through the middle of the said channel and of 
the fisheries. p^^a's Straits to the Pacific Ocean." A question 
had arisen as to where the middle of the channel was. The 
German Emperor decided in favor of the claim made by the 
United States. The Treaty of Washington made provision 
for the settlement of difficulties that had arisen concerning 
the Northeastern fisheries. In 1877 a commission met in 
Halifax and awarded to England the sum of $5,500,000. 

It was plain by this time that to compel the Southern 
people to observe the new amendments to the Constitution 
Differ n in ^^^^J ^^^ ^ difficult if not an impossible task, 
the Republican To accomplish anything by force, constant 
party. armed intervention was a necessity. But many 

felt that the Government had already gone too far ; that the 
only sensible course was to leave the South alone ; that as 
long as Federal troops were stationed there Southern resent- 
ment would continue in all its bitterness, and that the peo- 
ple could never be won back to affectionate loyalty by main 
force. They felt that the fundamental principle of local 
self-government was being dangerously disregarded. Some 
Republicans had become antagonistic to Grant personally. 
They believed that he had shown rare incapacity for civil 
duties, and that he was surrounded by men who were greedy 
if not corrupt. A division in the Republican party was 
likely to come sooner or later, because it was in reality a 
composite party, made up of men who were not apt to think 
alike on many questions. When once the great task of 
crushing the rebellion was over, the different elements in 
the party began to show their natural tendencies. 

The feeling of dissatisfaction with existing conditions 
showed itself in the Liberal Republican movement of 1872. 
The men who became interested in it were those Republicans 
who found themselves out of sympathy with the administra- 



488 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

tion, out of patience with the management of Southern 

matters, and eager for " reform " in civil office. Many, too, 

wished a reduction of tariff duties and other 

The Liberal economic changes. A national convention held 
Republicans. ^. • • • t -rr r^ -, 

at Cincinnati nominated Horace Greeley, of 
New York, for President, and B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, 
for Vice-President. A platform was adopted charging " the 
partisans of the administration assuming to be the Kepub- 
lican party " with arbitrary and unpatriotic conduct toward 
the South, and with selfish and unscrupulous use of power. 
The new party demanded immediate reform iu public office 
and the re-establishment of civil rule withctit military in- 
terference in the Southern States. 

The Democrats, having no issue to present, found them- 
selves fairly well in accord with the principles of the Lib- 
eral Eepublicans. The platform and candidates 
"^° ^ ^' were therefore accepted by the Democratic Na- 
tional Convention. A few Democrats found it impossible 
to accept the nomination of Greeley, who had been for 
years an ardent, enthusiastic Eepublican, given to the use of 
very plain language in his condemnation of the Democracy. 
This faction placed a straight Democratic ticket in the 
field ; but the movement was of no avail, inasmuch as the 
nominees refused to be candidates. 

The Republicans renominated Grant, and gave the sec- 
ond place on the ticket to Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts. 
Many persons were still fearful of any back- 
renominated Ward step in the management of the Southern 
and elected. question. There was a strong feeling, too, 
that Greeley was unfit for the presidency. A high-minded, 
honest man, with strong purposes and noble aims, he was 
impractical and visionary. He was in his place when he 
was appealing to the nation's conscience, or discussing in 
racy, telling phrases the moral duties of government. But 
he had almost no experience in public office, and was with- 
out aptitude for the duties of administration. Grant and 



ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 489 

Wilson were elected by an overwhelming majority. Greeley 
died be-fore the presidential electors met to cast their bal- 
lots. 

Grant's second administration was not very eventful, 
nor does it differ in character materially from the first. 
Some of the troubles that had arisen from the 
problem rebellion had passed away. Some of the great 

remains. problems had been solved, but much still re- 

mained to be done. The Southern question was still a 
pressing one. How far should the Southern States be al- 
lowed to manage elections and all internal affairs without 
molestation from the Central Government ? This was the 
difficult problem of the time. The Eepublican party was, 
on the whole, in favor of keeping such control that the 
amendments could be enforced throughout the South. 
But the country was in reality growing weary of inter- 
ference and longing for quiet. 

In a number of the Southern States, as we have seen, 
the Government had already passed into the hands of the 
Democratic party. Where that was the case 
Federal there was little trouble, but the amendments 

were more or less evaded. Where Eepublican 
governments held power great disturbance and unend- 
ing controversy prevailed. Disputes often arose over the 
action of the returning boards, whose duty it was to 
canvass the votes and report the results. The Democrats 
declared that the boards were illegally made up, or that 
they fraudulently " counted out " the Democratic candi- 
dates. The Eepublicans charged their opponents with en- 
deavoring by violence and intimidation to suppress the negro 
vote. When such quarrels broke out the President would 
send troops to quiet disturbances and to establish authority ; 
but he grew tired of the continuing disorder.* 

* The situation in Louisiana was especially bad. The Constitution 
provides (art. iv, sec. 4) that " the United States shall guarantee to 
every State in this Union a republican form of government." This 
33 



490 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

A very noticeable feature of those years was the numbei 
of political scandals that came to light in the National 
Government. In 1872 it was publicly charged 
r It 1 er. ^^^^ prominent Eepublican officeholders had 
taken bribes from a company known as the Credit Mo» 
bilier.* An investigation was made into all the charges, 
and resulted in finding clear proof of the guilt of two con- 
gressmen, one of whom had been the company's chief in- 
strument for furthering its interests by underhand and 
corrupt methods. The investigating committee recom- 
mended the expulsion of these men, but the House con- 
tented itself with " absolute condemnation " of their con- 
duct. Happily the ablest leaders to whom dishonesty had 
been imputed were exonerated by an examination of the 
facts. 

Other scandals than the Credit Mobilier were soon un- 
earthed. It was found that a great conspiracy had been 
formed for the purpose of cheating the Gov- 

The "^s^y ernment in the collection of the internal-reve- 
ring, lo/o. 

nue tax on distilled liquors. This "whisky 

ring " included men high in power and influence. Through 

the untiring energies of Mr. Bristow, the Secretary of the 

Treasury, the criminals were hunted down, the ring broken 

up, and a number of the guilty punished. 

About this same time articles of impeachment were 

brought by the House against William ^Y. Belknap, the 

clause furnished the legal justification for interference on the part of 
the National Government. Read Wilson, Division, etc., pp. 275-277 : 
Lalor, Cyclopaedia, vol. ii, pp. 784-788. 

* This corporation organized under a charter from the Pennsyl- 
vania Legislature, It received through roundabout and corrupt meth- 
ods immense profits for the construction of a portion of the Union Pacific 
Railroad. " The Credit Mobilier was, in short, the first, greatest, and 
most scandalous of the ' construction companies ' which have since . . . 
made bankrupt so many railroad enterprises." Merriam, Life and 
Times of Samuel Bowles, vol. ii, p. 225 ; see also Hinsdale, Campaign 
Text-book for 1880, p. 170. 



ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT-1869-1877. 



491 



Secretary of War. He was charged with receiving bribes, 
and there was no doubt of his guilt. To escape conviction 
he hastily resigned his office, and then denied 
Wa^;Lled, that the Senate had the right to consider 
1876. charges against a person who was no longer a 

" civil officer of the United States." * The trial was never- 
theless begun, but did not result in conviction. Most of 
those voting in favor of acquittal said that they did so be- 
cause they believed that the Senate had no jurisdiction. 




Map showing Western Extension of Population in 1870. 



Just at the close of Grant's first administration Con- 
gress passed an act increasing the salary of the President, 
members of Congress, and other officers. It 
Salary gral), provided that the President should receive fifty 
^^'^^' thousand dollars instead of half that sum, as 

heretofore, and that members of Congress should receive 
seven thousand five hundred dollars instead of five thou- 
sand dollars. This Congress was nearly at an end, but, 
regardless of that fact, the act declared that its members 

♦ See Constitution, art. ii, sec. 4. 



492 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

should receive the increased salary for the two years just 
closing. Great indignation was aroused in the country by 
this calm appropriation of the public funds. Some mem- 
bers paid back the money into the Treasury to appease 
their own consciences and to help quiet the tumult. The 
next Congress repealed the act, save such portions as pro- 
vided for increased pay to the President and justices of the 
Supreme Court. It must be said that previous Congresses 
had passed similar laws and made them retroactive. But 
the people now thought, without distinction of party, that 
the " salary grab " was an unworthy example of avarice and 
greed. 

For some years after the war the business interests of 
the country seemed to prosper. It was a period of great 
enterprise. Railroads were built and extended 
1873.^^^° ° ^^^ ^^ ^^^ proportion to the needs of the popu- 
lation ; all kinds of industries appeared to be 
thriving ; men entered boldly into new undertakings. The 
war seemed rather to have stimulated industry than to 
have checked it. But the day of reckoning was sure to 
come. The finances were not in a good condition, inasmuch 
as paper money still circulated and no law had been passed 
providing for payment in specie.* Commerce was there- 
fore built on an uncertain foundation. In 1873 a great 
commercial panic swept over the country. Enterprise and 
wild speculation were sharply brought to a standstill. Fac- 
tories were closed and the usual suffering ensued among 
the poorer people, who were thus deprived of means of 
livelihood. Many men seemed to believe that the need of 
the hour was more money, and Congress passed a bill for 
the increase of the currency. Grant vetoed the measure, 
because he thought that such action simply aggravated the 

* In 1869 a bill was passed known as a bill " to strengthen the pub- 
lic credit," wherein the United States "solemnly" pledged itself "to 
make provision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of 
the United States notes in coin." 



ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 493 

evil. In 1875 a law was passed providing for the redemp- 
tion of the " greenbacks " in coin on the 1st of January, 

1879. When that day arrived the "resump- 
Resumption. ^-^^^ „ ^^ gpecie payment was, as we shall see, 
entered upon without difficulty. 

The completion of a century of national existence was 
celebrated in 1876 by an exposition at Philadelphia, in which 

all the civilized nations of the world took part. 
The Centennial rpj-^^ immense development of the United States 
xposiion. .^ ^^^ course of a hundred years was here 
brought to view. In the invention of useful machinery 
the Americans had evidently kept pace with or surpassed 
the people of Europe. Other countries learned much from 
the exhibition of American machines and implements, 
many of which were of unique model. Our, own country 
gathered many important lessons, helping the people to see 
their own strength and their own weakness. The exposition 
seems to have acted as a spur to the artistic and aesthetic 
tastes of the people. One can not tell how much should be 
credited to the Centennial Exposition, but it appears to be 
true that from about this time there was a new appreciation 
of art, and a growing desire for the beauties as well as the 
comforts of life. 

The country might well pride itself in this centennial 
year upon its wealth and prosperity, upon its wonderful 

growth in a single century. In spite of the 
Prosperity and prreat civil War, population had increased at a 

progress. & » r r 

rapid rate, even in the last decade, and was 
still rapidly increasing. In 1870 the census returns showed 
over 38,000,000 inhabitants, and in 1880 there were over 
50,000,000. The people had given proof of great capacity 
in mechanical invention ; nature liad been brought to serve 
man in almost every field of work. The land Was now knit 
together by railroads and telegraplis. At the beginning of 
the civil war a telegraph line from the East to the Pacific 
slope was constructed, and in 1869 the Pacific Kailroad was 



494 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

completed, reaching from Omaha to San Francisco. It had 
been begun during the war, when the people felt the neces- 
sity of binding East and West together by the firm ties 
afforded by easy and speedy communication. Persons 
could now cross the continent in a few days. Twenty years 
before the journey was a toilsome task of weary months. 

The Eepublicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, of 
Ohio, for the presidency. William A. Wheeler, of New 
Eepublican York, was selected for the vice - presidency. 
Convention, The platform of the party gave no indication 

of any change or material advance in policy, 
but it spoke out frankly in favor of resumption of specie 
payment. 

The Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden, of New 
^ork, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. Tilden was 

a man of great native ability, a lawyer of wide 
Democratic reputation and skill. As governor of his State 

he had relentlessly attacked the corrupt Canal 
ring and the groups of thieving officials that were plunder- 
ing the treasury of New York. The platform of the party 
was largely made up of a series of demands for "reform." 
It denounced the " financial imbecility and immorality " of 
the Republicans, and demanded the repeal of the Resump- 
tion Act of 1875. 

There were two other parties in this campaign, the 
Greenback party and the Prohibition party. The former 

demanded the repeal of the Resumption Act, 
er panes. ^^^^ declared themselves in favor of a paper 
currency " convertible on demand into United States obli- 
gations." In other words, they did not want gold and 
silver as money, but pieces of paper stamped by the Gov- 
ernment and issued at its discretion. The Prohibitionists 
were in favor of making the liquor traffic wholly illegal. 

The result of the election was doubtful, so doubtful that 
people were in consternation and perplexity. Tilden re- 
ceived one hundred and eighty-four electoral votes; only 



ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 495 

one more was needed to elect him. From four States — 
South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Oregon — contradic- 
tory electoral certificates were presented, one set 
election in announcing that Republican electors had been 

doubt. chosen, the other that Democratic electors 

had been chosen. In each of the three Southern States 
there was a returning board, to which the results of the 
election from various parts of the State were reported, and 
whose duty it then was to declare the result. All through 
reconstruction times these boards had exercised 
bowds*''™^''^ a wide discretion and wielded almost unlimited 
authority. They were wont at times to cast 
out the votes of some precincts 
on the ground that the election 
had been fraudulent ; and in this 
way the reconstructed govern- 
ments had perpetuated their 
power. The Republican State 
governments felt that only in 
this way could they keep the 
Democrats from gaining control 
of the State by stealth or violence 
•and intimidation. The tempta- 
tion for the returning boards to 
use their unrestricted authority ^i£^^^^i.,Xi^^ 
willfully and corruptly was very 

great, and it is plain enough that to leave the decision of an 
election with a group of men whose interests prompt them 
to defend their own authority is practically to make popular 
government a nullity. The whole situation was one of the 
unfortunate results of the distrust and ill feeling that 
naturally ensued after the war. Now in this election the 
Florida and Louisiana returning boards cast out the vote of 
certain precincts as tainted with fraud, and declared the 
Republican electors chosen. The Democratic electors also 
obtained certificates, in Florida from a Democratic member 




496 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

of the returning board, in Louisiana from the Democratic 
candidate for governor, who claimed his own election. 
From South Carolina there were double returns, the Demo- 
crats claiming that the presence of Federal troops had 
interfered with the freedom of the election, and that 
they had been wrongfully counted out. In Oregon a post- 
master had been chosen elector, and the question arose 
as to whether he was qualified to sit, being a Federal office- 
holder.* 

The situation was grave. Up to this time Congress had 

neglected to make suitable provision for the settlement of 

such disputes and difficulties. As the Demo- 

The Electoral crats had a maioritv in the House and the Re- 

Commission. . 

publicans in the Senate, it was clear that some 
unusual means of solving the question must be found. It 
is quite possible that the correct legal rule is that the 
Vice-President is given the duty of counting the votes in 
the presence of both houses, and can determine the validity 
of the votes himself, without interference or direction from 
Congress. But Congress had for years proceeded on a dif- 
ferent theory, and had assumed its own right to settle dis- 
putes. It was determined, therefore, that an extraordinary 
commission should be appointed and charged with deter- 
mining the validity of the votes in question. The commis- 
sion numbered fifteen. There were five members from each 
house of Congress and five justices of the Supreme Court. 
The hope was to secure a commission that was non-partisan, f 
But the chief responsibility was thrown upon Justice Brad- 
ley, who was chosen by the other justices as the fifteenth 

* See the Constitution, art. ii, sec. 1, § 2. For the whole contro- 
versy, see Lalor, Cyclop.-edia, vol. ii, p. 50 ; Wilson, Division, etc., p. 283 ; 
Dunning, Reconstruction : Political and Economic, pp. 92-108. 

fThe Senate appointed three Republicans and two Democrats, 
the House three Democrats and two Republicans. Four justices were 
appointed, two Republicans and two Democrats. The four justices 
selected the fifth. 



ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 



407 



man. He voted with the Republicans, and the commission 
therefore made its decision by a vote of eight to seven in 
favor of the Hayes electors. The basis of the opinion of 
the majority was that the findings of the returning boards 
were final, that the duty of the commission was to decide 
what were the legal returns from the States in contest, and 
that it was not its duty to investigate the merits of contro- 
versies within States, which were by right left to the local 
authorities. Thus it was determined that Hayes was elected. 
Both candidates behaved with great decorum and as true 




patriots through these trying days. Excited as the men 
of both parties were, there was not much feeling of uneasi- 
ness or fear in the country at large. When the decision 
was announced the defeated party accepted defeat. This 
whole affair, then, was a victory for free government; it 
showed that the Americans possessed the prime requisite 
for self-government — self-control. " It has been reserved," 
said President Hayes, " for a government of the people . . . 
to give to the world the first example in history of a great 
nation, in tlie midst of a struggle of opposing parties for 



498 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



power, hushing its party tumults to yield the issues of the 
contest to adjustment according to the forms of law." 

References. 

The best short accounts are in Wilson, Division and Reunion, 
pp. 273-287 ; Moore, The American Congress, pp. 435-475 ; Dawes, 
Charles Sumner, pp. 273-322; Julian, Political Recollections, pp. 
336-374; Owen Wister, Ulysses S. Grant. Longer accounts: Blaine, 
Twenty Years of Congress, Volume II, pp. 407-594; Andrews, His- 
tory of the Last Quarter Century; Church, U. S. Grant, 361-423; 
Dunning, Reconstruction, Political and Economic. 









m^ 










A^A, N BU LD l>rc 



Two OF THE Buildings of the Centennial Exposition 
AT Philadelphia, 1876, 



CHAPTER XVIIL 



The New Nation— 1877-1899. 



ADMINISTRATION OF RUTHERFORD B. HAYES— 1877-1881. 

Not much was known by the people at large of the real 
ability and character of Rutherford B. Hayes when he en- 
tered upon the duties of the presidency. He 
Rutherford B. ^^g j^q^j^ \^ Qj^jo ^nd spent his life there. 
Having served with distinction in the civil 
war, he was elected, at its close, 
as a representative in Congress. 
In 1868 he was chosen governor 
of his State. Again, in 1875, he 
was elected governor, and his 
success in the election of that 
year gave him something of a 
national reputation. He was by 
nature so modest and unpreten- 
tious that, in spite of the fact 
that he had held a number of 
public offices and had been hon- 
ored by the confidence of his 
State, one may doubt if even 
the people of Ohio knew him at 
his full value or appreciated his 
strength. While it is doubtless 
true that he was not a man of great intellectual brilliance, 
he combined in a rare degree mental and moral qualities 
— firmness, purity of purpose, wisdom, conscientiousness 
— ^that well fitted him for the great tasks of his admin- 

499 




500 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

istration, at a time when the nation, leaving behind it in 
large measure the memories of civil conflict and sectional 
hatreds, was ready to move on to new duties and achieve- 
ments. The great need of the day was quiet bravery, 
not ostentatious vigor. The years were years of heal- 
ing ; they were fortunately uneventful. When the next 
election came, it was felt that the troublesome days of re- 
construction were gone ; that, although there were jealous- 
ies and heartburnings still, North and South were once 
more growing together in national feeling and spirit. 

One of the President's first acts was to withdraw the 
troops from the support of the Eepublican government in 
Withdrawal of ^^^® Southern States where such government 
troops from still retained power. His words are so momen- 
tlie South. |-Q^g^ ^g ^i^gy indicate a different policy on the 

part of the Federal authority, that they deserve quoting : 
"In my opinion there does not now exist in that State 
(South Carolina) such domestic violence as is contemplated 
by the Constitution as the grounds upon which the military 
power of the National Government may be invoked for the 
defense of the State. There are, it is true, grave and se- 
rious disputes, . . . but these are to be settled ... by such 
orderly and peaceable methods as may be provided by the 
Constitution and laws of the State. I feel assured that no 
resort to violence is contemplated in any quarter, but that, 
on the contrary, the disputes in question are to be settled 
solely by such peaceful remedies as the Constitution and 
the laws of the State provide." So at length the Southern 
States were left to themselves. We need blame no one that 
the difficulties had lasted so long, but it was well that the 
day of interference was now gone. 

The uneasiness of the people on the money question 
had not been put at rest by the passage of the Resumption 
Act, nor yet by the utter defeat of the " Greenback " ticket 
in the late election. Some people felt that recent legisla- 
tion on money matters had been in favor of the bondhold- 



ADMINISTRATION OF HAYES— 1877-1881. 501 

ers, and had disregarded the needs of the people. A law 
had been passed in Grant's first term pledging the Govern- 
ment ultimately to pay the bonds in coin. In 
Financial ;[§t^3 gjiyer ^as demonetized — in other words, 

the United States mint was no longer to coin sil- 
ver dollars. The silver dollar was then rarely seen in circula- 
tion, because it was of more value than the gold dollar, and 
was therefore exported to Europe, where the silver was 
worth more as bullion than here as coin. There was so 
much silver in it that, at the market price of the bullion, 
it was worth one dollar and two cents in gold. At this 
same time an act was passed ordering the coinage of the 
so-called " trade dollar." This coin was intended not for 
domestic circulation, but to be used in trade with the Ori- 
ental nations, and it was not made a legal tender. After 
1873, however, the silver mines of the country began to turn 
out greatly increased quantities of ore. The opening up of 
these mines is a matter of great moment in our industrial 
as well as in our financial history, for the new West was 
now rapidly building up, with silver as a chief product. 
There was a demand for the recognition of this metal in 
the national coinage. In 1878 the Bland- Allison Bill was 
passed by Congress, providing for the remonetization of 
silver. According to the terms of the act, the Government 
was to buy each month not less than two million dollars' nor 
more than four million dollars' worth of the white metal, 
and to coin this bullion into standard dollars. This dollar 
was made legal tender, and was to be of the same weight 
and fineness * as before 1873, although now silver was of 
much less value on the markets of the world than before its 
demonetization.! President Hayes vetoed the bill, but it 

* By fineness is meant the purity of the coin — that is to say, the 
amount of silver or gold in proportion to alloy. The standard ' silver 
dollar contains 900 parts pure silver and 100 parts copper alloy, and 
weighs 413| grains. The gold coin is of the same fineness. 

t It is to be noticed that since 1870 a number of the European 
states had given up the use of silver as a standard money. 



502 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

was passed over his veto. Thus ended the first important 
discussion of the silver question. A final solution of the 
problem was not reached. 

In the summer of 1877 a great strike took place among 
the workmen of the country, chiefly the employees of the 
Northern railroads, who complained because of 
Strikes and g^ reduction of wages. In many places there 
were disastrous riots and great destruction of 
property. The commencement of the difficulty was on the 
Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad, but the strike extended to 
nearly all the Northern lines east of the Mississippi. The 
strikers took forcible possession of the tracks at princi- 
pal junctions, and prevented the forwarding of goods or 
the dispatching of passenger trains. The whole internal 
commerce of the country was blocked and thrown into con- 
fusion. Fights between mobs and the police authorities 
occurred, and the militia was called out to suppress the 
rioting in a number of the States. Where the State troops 
were unable or unwilling to check the insurrection the 
Federal army was used for the purpose. The most serious 
disorder occurred in Pittsburg, where angry and excited 
mobs burned and pillaged and robbed ruthlessly, destroying 
millions of dollars' worth of railroad property and freight. 
After about two weeks of lawlessness and rioting traffic 
was resumed on most of the principal roads of the country, 
and soon normal conditions were re-established everywhere. 

In 1879 an interesting controversy arose between the 
President and Congress. The intention of the Democrats 
p "dent nd ^^ Congress was to restrain the Federal Gov- 
Congress at ernment from interfering in the affairs of the 
variance. Southern States, or from making use of the 

Federal troops to guard elections or to protect the blacks. 
In February, 1879, the House passed the Army Appropria- 
tion Bill with a " rider " directed against the use of troops 
" to keep peace at the polls," and also passed other appro- 
priation bills with riders that repealed the essential parts 



ADMINISTRATION OF HAYES— 1877-1881. 503 

of the general election law. The Senate refused to pass 
the bills and they did not become laws. A new Congress 
came into existence March 4. A special session was sum- 
moned. Both branches were now Democratic. Various 
appropriation bills were passed with riders,* the purpose of 
which was to curtail the power of the General Government 
in its control over elections. The Democrats declared that 
their purpose was simply to erase from the statute books 
the legislation which the war had produced, for which there 
was now no need, and which was an insult to the States and 
a menace to local government. The Eepublicans, in irrita- 
tion, asserted that the Democrats were intent upon " starv- 
ing the Government to death." The President vetoed the 
bills with the riders, saying that a rider was an attempt on 
the part of the House to force the other branches of the 
Government to agree to undesired legislation. Congress 
could not pass the bills over the veto. Some of the appro- 
priations were then made without the rider, but the bill 
providing for the payment of the Federal judiciary was not 
passed, and all the court officials went without pay until 
provision was made for them at the next session. This 
contest between the President and Congress is of much 
interest. Whatever one may think of the purposes of the 
Democrats, Hayes seems to have been quite right in main- 
taining that the practice of adding riders to appropriation 
bills is productive of much mischief, and that if continued 
it would throw nearly all legislative power into the hands 
of the House, because it alone can originate bills for raising 
revenue, and has assumed the sole power of originating 
general appropriation bills. 

It will be remembered that during the war the Gov- 

* A rider is a clause attached to an appropriation bill and referring 
to a different subject than the main body of the bill, the object being 
to force the measure on the other house or the President by annexing 
it, or " tacking " it, as the English say, to appropriations for needful 
purposes. 



504 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

eminent issued paper money and made it legal tender, 
These notes fell greatly in value, and although, when the 

credit of the Government grew stronger in 
payments after years, the notes rose again they furnished 

resumed, 1879. ^^^ ^he best a fluctuating and uncertain cur- 
rency. In 1875, as we have seen, an act was passed provid- 
ing for a return to specie payments on the first day of 
January, 1879 — providing, in other words, for the redemp- 
tion of the " greenbacks " in coin. Preparations were made 
in the course of Hayes's administration to resume specie 
payments on the day set. Gold and silver coin and bullion 
were collected in the Treasury, and so complete and thor- 
ough was the preparation, that when the time of resump- 
tion arrived there were only a few straggling demands for 
coin ; the paper was already at par with coin. 

As the election of 1880 drew near the Eepublican party 
was in good condition and hopeful of success. The wise 

and conservative administration of President 
Republican Hayes had won popular respect. There had 

been no scandals in public life. The resump- 
tion of specie payments had seemingly secured prosperity. 
The various elements of the party were united. The con- 
vention chose General James A. Garfield, of Ohio, as candi- 
date for the presidency ; Chester A. Arthur, of New York, 
was nominated for the vice-presidency. 

The Democrats nominated General Winfield S. Han- 
cock, of Pennsylvania, and William H. English, of Indiana. 

The platform declared among other things for 
Democratic "home rule, honest money, ... the strict 

maintenance of the public faith, . . . and a 
tariff for revenue only." Candidates were also placed be- 
fore the people by the Prohibition party and the Greenback 
party. 

The declaration of the Democrats in favor of " a tariff 
for revenue only " caused considerable discussion during 
the months that succeeded the convention, especially in 



ADMINISTRATION OF GARFIELD— 1881. 505 

the last few weeks preceding the election. For the first 
time since the war the two parties differed radically and 

:. explicitly on the tariff issue. It is true the 
Character and ^ "^ , i n . 

results of the Democrats were not as yet wholly given over 
campaign. ^q ^}^g principle announced in the platform, but 

from this time on the party consistently attacked the reve- 
nue policy of the Eepublicans, and the latter party took a 
stronger hold upon the principle of protection. The South- 
ern question was not much discussed during the canvass ; 
indeed, there was less discussion of sectional issues than 
there had been for nearly forty years. Garfield and Arthur 
were elected. 

References. 

Short account: Wilson, Division and Reunion, p. 288 et seq. 
Longer accounts : Blaine, Twenty Years in Congress, Volume II, pp. 
595-676; Cox, Three Decades, Chapter XXXVIII; Stan wood. His- 
tory of the Presidency, Chapter XXV; Sparks, National Develop- 
James G. Blaine. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES A. GARFIELD AND 
CHESTER A. ARTHUR— 1881-1885. 

Few men have taken the presidential chair whose train- 
ing for executive duties had been so wide and various as 
was Garfield's. Graduating from college in 
G-Trm ' 1856, he became a professor in Hiram College, 

Ohio, and soon after president of the institu- 
tion. He served in the Union army, becoming major gen- 
eral. He was elected to Congress during the rebellion, and 
served as a member of the House from 1863 to 1880. He 
was a man of broad general culture, of scholarly tastes, and 
of unusual capacity as a debater and legislator. He was 
elected senator from Ohio in 1880, but was chosen to the 
presidency before taking his seat as senator. 

Although the administration of Hayes had done much 

to bring together the discordant elements in the Republi- 
34 



506 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

can party, there were still differences and contending fac- 
tions. The radical element of the party, which had been 

strongly in sympathy with Grant's administra- 
the Eepublican tion and had desired his nomination for a third 
party. -fcerm in 1880, were known as " Stalwarts." They 

objected to the conciliatory spirit of the Hayes administra- 
tion. Their opponents were commonly called " Half-breeds," 
a term of contempt bestowed upon them because of their 
supposed lukewarmness and their faint-hearted devotion to 
Republican principles. As the differences were largely per- 
sonal, the issues between the two factions were not very 
clearly defined. The leader of the " Stalwarts " was Roscoe 
Conkling, senator from New York. 

Garfield seems to have sought to reconcile both factions, 
or at least not to arouse the enmity of the " Stalwarts." In 

this he was not entirely successful. By ap- 
S?e'se^tr^°^ pointing to the coUectorship of the port of 

New York a man not acceptable to Conkling 
he awakened the resentment of that senator. For some 
years it had been thought to be the right of the senators to 
dictate the more important appointments within their re- 
spective States. This principle the President had violated. 
To carry out and substantiate this right and prerogative 
Conkling and his colleague in the Senate, Thomas 0. Piatt, 
resigned, appealing, as it were, to their State for ratification 
of their conduct in resisting the President. The Legisla- 
ture, however, refused to re-elect the two senators. 

Perhaps these heated controversies and the consequent 
excitement in political circles brought about indirectly the 

death of the President. A hare-brained fanatic 
Asmsmation ^^ ^^^ name of Guiteau came to Washington 

as an applicant for office. As he did not meet 
with success, his mind seems to have been preyed upon by 
his failure and inflamed by the political discussions with 
which the air was heavy. He became imbued with a hatred 
of the President, and cherished the idea that his death 



ADMINISTRATION OF ARTHUR— 1881-1885, 



507 



would unite the party. On the morning of July 2d, as 
Garfield was entering a railway station in Washington, 
Guiteau shot him. For some time hopes were entertained 
that the wound was not mortal, but after enduring great 
suffering with fortitude and hopefulness the President died, 
September 19, 1881, at Elberon, N. J. The people of the 
entire country, and indeed of the civilized world, were 
deeply affected by this awful tragedy and crime. 

Vice-President Arthur took the oath as President at his 
home in New York, September 20, 1881. When he was 
Accession of elected Vice-President no one knew much of 
Chester A. his qualifications for 

^^^^'- office. He had taken 

a prominent and active part in 
politics, and had been for some 
years collector of the port of Xew 
York. He proved during his term 
of office to be a man of rare ad- 
ministrative ability and pure pur- 
poses, and soon won the respect 
and confidence of the nation. 

The trouble between Garfield 
and the New York senators, and, 
above all, the assas- 
sination of the Presi- 
dent, called the at- 
tention of the people to the evils and follies of the spoils 
system. In two successive annual messages Arthur argued 
strongly and wisely in favor of civil-service reform, and 
pressed upon the attention of Congress the desirability of 
new legislation regarding appointments to office. In Janu- 
ary, 1883, Congress passed an act known as the " Pendleton 
Act," authorizing the President to direct that appointments 
should be made after competitive examinations. He was 
also empowered to establish a civil-service commission. The 
President put the act immediately into effect, and since that 



The civil-serv- 
ice commission. 




508 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

time the regulations have been gradually extended by his 
successors, until at the present time a very large portion of 
the offices in the gift of the Government are bestowed not 
as a reward for party fealty, but after an examination made 
for the purpose of discovering the merit of the applicants 
and their respective fitness for official duties. 

The prosperity of the country was so great during these 
years, and importations from foreign countries were so 
large, that the public moneys derived from the 
The surplus and duties accumulated in the Treasury until the 
Government actually had more money than it 
knew what to do with. The immense public debt rolled 
up by the rebellion was rapidly being paid ; but the bond- 
holders, resting secure in the credit of the Government, 
were not willing to receive payment for their bonds until 
they were due. It seemed desirable to many persons that 
the tariff duties should be lessened, because the surplus 
was unnecessary, and might be even harmful by encour- 
aging public extravagance, if not corruption. A new tariff 
law was passed that slightly reduced the duties. In 1884 
still another bill was introduced into the House. It was a 
Democratic measure and was supported by the main body 
of the party, but it was defeated by the combined votes of 
the Eepublicans and a small number of Democrats who 
were opposed to the reduction of the tariff. 

For some years there had existed, especially in the 
Pacific States, a strong sentiment against the unrestricted 
immigration of the Chinese. The increasing 
Exclusion of number of immigrants had caused consterna- 
tion, not to say alarm, in parts of the West, 
and it seemed desirable to take steps to restrict the immi- 
gration. In 1880 a treaty was made at Peking between the 
Chinese Government and a commission from the United 
States, providing that this country might place restrictions 
upon the entrance of laborers from China. Two years later 
a law was passed by Congress suspending the right of Chi- 



ADMINISTRATION OF ARTHUR— 1881-1885. 509 

nese workmen to come to this country for the period of ten 
years, and in 1892 the period of exclusion was extended for 
another term of ten years, and severe and strict regulations 
were provided to prevent the breach of the law. 

The presidential canvass of 1884 was a very stirring 
one. The Eepublicans nominated James G. Blaine and 
John A. Logan; the Democrats, Grover Cleveland and 
Thomas A. Hendricks. There were two other parties that 

put candidates in the field. The " People's 
^mr*^*'^ party," which was really to a great extent the 

old Greenback party rechristened, nominated 
General Benjamin F. Butler, and the Prohibitionists John P. 
St. John. The tariff was the main issue. The Eepublican 
platform declared for a continuance of the protective sys- 
tem, while the Democratic platform announced that the 
party was " pledged to revise the tariff in a spirit of fair- 
ness to all interests." To a portion of his party, including 
a number of able and influential men, Blaine was not an 
acceptable candidate. These persons, calling themselves 
Independent Republicans, and commonly known as " Mug- 
wumps," advocated the election of Cleveland. The result 
of the election turned upon the vote of New York. Out- 
side of that State Blaine had 182 electoral votes and Cleve- 
land 183. The contest in New York was so close and the 
outcome so doubtful that it was not known for several days 
after the election which of the two candidates was elected. 
It was finally determined that the Democrats had carried 
the State by 1,047 votes. Thus Cleveland was chosen by 
an electoral majority of 37. No State was carried by either 
Butler or St. John. 

References. 

Short accounts: Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 268-293; 
Stanwood, History of the Presidency, Chapter XXVII. Longer 
accounts : Andrews, History of the Last Quarter Century ; Stanwood, 
James Gillespie Blaine; Sparks, National Development. 



510 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF GROVER CLEVELAND— 

1885-1889. 

Grover Cleveland had held no national office when he 
was called upon to take np the duties of the presidency. 
He first won attention by his services as Mayor 
cJeveknd. ^^ Buffalo, where his frank, courageous per- 

formance of duty and his bold use of the veto 
power checked extravagant and foolish legislation. In 
1882 he was elected Governor of New York, in which po- 
sition he won the confidence of the people by the direct- 
ness of his methods and the fearlessness with which he 
opposed measures that seemed to him harmful to the public 
interests. 

In his first annual message, in December of 1885, Cleve- 
land called the attention of Congress to the condition 
of the currency. He showed that only fifty 
question. million dollars, out of nearly two hundred 

and sixteen million silver dollars coined in ac- 
cordance with the Bland- Allison act,* had gone into circu- 
lation, and he declared that the continuance of silver coin- 
age would bring the Government to the pass when it would 
have only silver money, which would mean that the cur- 
rency would be let down to a lower standard of value, inas- 
much as the silver in a dollar was not worth a dollar in 
gold. Nothing was done by Congress regarding the matter. 
It was believed by many that the President's fears were 
fanciful. Some, on the other hand, favored the " free coin- 
age " of silver ; in other words, they desired that the G ov- 
ernment should do more than simply purchase a limited 
amount of the metal and coin it; they desired that it 
should coin into dollars, freely and without limit, all the 
silver bullion that might be brought to the mints. These 
persons declared that the reason for the fall of silver in 

* See page 501. Paper certificates were issued under this act, and 
were taken by the people, instead of the silver they represented. 



FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELAND— 1885-1889. 511 



price in comparison with gold was because the Government 
made discrimination in favor of the latter metal. Other 
persons, not going so far as to favor free coinage, saw no 
great danger in existing conditions, and no law was passed, 
nor was the time yet ripe for the money question to become 
a party issue. 

Vice-President Hendricks died in November, 1885. This 
called attention once more to the desirability of changing 

... the line of succession to the presidency, in case 
succession, of the death of the President and Vice-Presi- 
1^^^* dent or their inability to act. At the next 

session of Congress a bill was 
passed providing that in such 
a contingency the Secretary of 
State should succeed, and, if 
the necessity should by any pos- 
sibility arise, the other mem- 
bers of the Cabinet should 
assume the duties of the presi- 
dential office in the following 
order : (1) Secretary of the 
Treasury, (2) Secretary of War, 
(3) Attorney-General, (4) Sec- 
retary of the Navy, (5) Post- 
master-General, (6) Secretary 
of the Interior. The law applies only to such persons as are 
constitutionally eligible.* The Electoral Count Act also 
became law. Its object is to prevent the recurrence of such 
disputes as that of 1876, by providing that the 
^1887^"'"''* States themselves shall provide for the final 
" determination of controversies " concerning 
the election of presidential electors. 

For many years past there had been a demand for a law 
regulating interstate commerce. Congress has no au- 




* The Constitution, art, ii, sec. 1, § 6. 



512 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

thority to regulate trade or intercourse between places 

solely within the limits of a State and not directly con 

nected with commerce between States. But 

Interstate interstate commerce is subiect to national 

Commerce Act. . . . "^ 

legislation.* The railroads had for some time 
been accustomed to discriminate in their charges in favor 
of some shippers and against others, and in favor of some 
cities and against others. The object of the interstate com- 
merce act was to prevent discrimination. One of its most 
important clauses provided that no common carrier could 
charge more " for a shorter than for a longer distance over 
the same line, in the same direction, the shorter being in- 
cluded within the longer distance." For the administra- 
tion of the law a commission of five persons was created. 
This is a very important measure, and, in spite of many 
difficulties and embarrassments in enforcing its provisions, 
it has doubtless done something to bring about more equi- 
table conditions in the railway service of the country. 

The labor troubles throughout these years were many 
and serious. There were numerous strikes in different 

parts of the country, and the relations between 
Labor trouDles. ^ *^ 

employers and workmen seemed m many cases 

to be unsatisfactory and unwholesome. The labor organi- 
zations, such as the " Knights of Labor," had come to have 
a wide influence, and their membership was very large. In 
1887 the American Federation of Labor was formed. The 
object of these organizations was the betterment of the 
workmen by securing higher wages and shorter hours, by 
obtaining better legislation affecting labor, and by prevent- 
ing useless or unprepared strikes. 

Besides the regular workmen who desired good wages 
and reasonable hours, and were content on the whole with 
patient and sensible methods of securing their ends, there 
were a few men who styled themselves anarchists and be- 

* See Constitution, art. i, sec. 8, § 3. 



FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELAND— 1885-1889. 513 

lieved that a better social and industrial condition could 

be brought about only by a complete destruction of the 

existing social order. Such persons had in re- 

The anarchists, , . . i i • • . , i , i 

ality nothing m common with earnest workmen ; 
but they became prominent in the confusion that often ac- 
companies a large strike, however legitimate its ends may be. 
In the spring of 1886 a serious outbreak of violence occurred 
in Chicago. A number of policemen were killed by the 
explosion of a dynamite bomb while endeavoring to dis- 
perse a crowd listening to the harangues of anarchists. 
Several of the anarchists were arrested and punished. 

When Congress met in December, 1887, the President 
sent in a message dealing exclusively with the one subject 

of the tariff. There was little doubt among 
Si^eVariff!'''^''^ men of either party that the surplus was too 

large, and many felt that it was a serious 
source of danger, because it was a continuing temptation to 
extravagance or to hasty and unwise legislation. The Presi- 
dent argued strenuously in favor of a reduction of duties. 
While advocating the imposition of lower duties on raw 
materials used in manufacturing, he called special attention 
to the tariff on wool, which he declared constituted " a tax 
fastened upon the clothing of every man, woman, and 
child in the land." This message was one of great im- 
portance, because, under this spur, the President's party 
set earnestly at work to revise the tariff and lower the 
duties. A bill directed to that end could not be passed 
through Congress at that session, but the tariff necessarily 
became the great question of the presidential canvass of 
that year. 

For the election of 1888 the Democrats renominated 
Cleveland, and gave the second place on the ticket to 
Allen Gr. Thurman, of Ohio. They declared that all " un- 
necessary taxation is unjust taxation," * that the policy of 

* This meant a high tariff, which, the Democrats asserted, took un- 
necessary money from the people. 



514 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

the party was " to enforce frugality in the public expenses," 
that a vast sum of money was being " drawn from the 
people and the channels of trade and accu- 
TiR^sr*^*'^ mulated as a demoralizing surplus in the 
national Treasury." The Eepublicans nomi- 
nated Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, and Levi P. Morton, 
of New York. They announced that they were " uncom- 
promisingly in favor of the American system of protec- 
tion." They declared that they favored reduction of the 
revenue by repealing the taxes on tobacco and " spirits 
used in the arts," and would prefer the entire repeal of 
the internal taxes to a " surrender of any part of our 
protective system." Candidates were also put in the field 
by the Prohibition party, and nominations were made by a 
number of other parties whose existence was indicative of 
discontent among many of the people, especially the work- 
men and farmers. The Eepublicans were successful in the 
election, carrying all the Northern States except New Jer- 
sey and Connecticut. 

Before Harrison took office a number of important meas- 
ures became law. One was the establishment of a Depart- 
ment of Agriculture ; another was a bill pro- 
Important ^^^' f Qj. ^j^g admission of the States of North 

measures. ° 

Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wash- 
ington (1889).* Congress also passed a bill for the return 
to the States of the money that had been collected during 
the war as a direct tax, but the President vetoed the meas- 
ure. 

References. 

Wilson, Division and Reunion, Chapter XIII; Moore, American 
Congress, pp. 482-491 ; Dewey, National Problems. 

* The next year Idaho and Wyoming were admitted. 



ADMINISTRATION OP HARRISON— 1889-1893. 



isenjainin 
Harrison. 



ADMINISTRATION OF BENJAMIN HARRISON— 1889-1893. 

Benjamin Harrison, grandson of A¥illiam Henry Harri- 
son, ninth President of the United States, was educated 
in Ohio, graduating from Miami University. 
After leaving college he studied law, was ad- 
mitted to the bar, and began the practice of 
his profession in Indianapolis. Soon after the outbreak of 
the civil war he entered the army as a colonel, and won dis- 
tinction for bravery and efficiency, leaving the service as a 
brevet brigadier general. He 
was elected senator from In- 
diana in 1880, and showed in 
the Senate marked ability and 
capacity. 

In the autumn of 1889 there 
assembled in Washington a 
congress of delegates from the 
principal states of this hemis- 
phere. The conference was 
asked for by this Government, 
in the hope that cordial and 
friendly relations might be per- 
manently established between 
the United States and the coun- 
tries of Central and South 
America. It was hoped that an American customs union 
might be formed for the promotion of trade between the sev- 
™, eral nations, that a uniform system of weights 

Pan-American and measures might be agreed upon, a common 
Congress. silver coin adopted to serve as legal tender in all 

business transactions, and that a definite plan for arbitration 
of disputes and difficulties might be recommended to the 
various governments represented. This congress was in ses- 
sion several months, and, while not accomplishing so much as 
its enthusiastic promoters desired, it undoubtedly did some- 




516 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

thing toward bringing the nations into closer and more 
sympathetic relations. It is a fact of no little meaning 
in the world's history that the representatives of many 
nations holding the soil of two continents could come 
together in peace and harmony to discuss problems of 
trade and endeavor to promote good fellowship and neigh- 
borly feeling. 

In the House of Representatives there was a great dis- 
cussion over the rules. It had long been customary for a 
Rules in the minority to block the progress of lawmaking 
House, by refusing to vote. A person not voting was 

l889-'90. ^^^ counted as present, and a quorum, there- 

fore, could be obtained for the passage of a measure only 
when the majority could secure the presence of more than 
half of all the members of the House. Thomas B. Reed, 
the Speaker, interfered with the " filibustering " tactics of 
the Democratic minority* in the House by counting as 
part of the quorum all who were present, whether they 
voted or not. This power was afterward given him by the 
rules adopted by the House, f 

* It should be noticed that the Republicans had used like tactics 
when in the minority. 

f It will be remembered that the Speaker of the House is not, and in- 
deed does not pretend to be, the impartial presiding officer of an assem- 
bly, as does the Speaker of the House of Commons. The contrasts 
between the English and American systems are more striking than the 
similarities. The American Speaker is ostensibly and actually a party 
leader ; he feels the responsibility for what is done in the House, and 
is so completely a master of the situation that no act can pass without 
his sanction. By refusing to " recognize " a member offering or advo- 
cating a measure to which he is opposed he can keep such measures 
from coming before the House ; he has the right to appoint the commit- 
tees, and can do much to determine the general character of legislation 
by the organization of the committees. Probably no Speaker uses this 
power selfishly and arbitrarily ; some leadership and responsibility are 
absolutely necessary in such a body as the House of Representatives, and 
such leadership has in the course of a century come to be centered in 
the Speaker. 



ADMINISTRATION OP HARRISON— 1889-1893. 517 

Congress took up the consideration of the tariff and 
passed the McKinley Bill. It was decidedly a protective 
measure, increasing the duties on many im- 
Bill 1890. ^^ ported articles with the purpose of encour- 
aging manufactures and protecting domestic 
industries. A distinguishing feature of this bill was a 
provision intended to promote trade, especially with the 
West Indies and the states of South America. It was pro- 
vided that the President could by proclamation impose a 
duty on sugar and certain other commodities coming from 
countries that placed import duties upon our products, if 
in the President's opinion such duties were " reciprocally 
unequal and unreasonable," under the circum- 
eciproci y. stances. This was practically an offer to the 
countries of Central and South America and the West 
Indies to allow their goods to come in free, if they would 
in return admit our products free. 

In the middle of the summer that part of the Bland- 
Allison Act providing for the purchase of silver bullion was 
repealed, and in its place the Sherman Act was 
St i89o!^^ passed, which provided that the Government 
should purchase each month at the market 
price four and a half million ounces of such bullion. In 
payment for the silver the Secretary of the Treasury was to 
give out Treasury notes that were to be full legal tender. 
The silver so bought was not to be coined into money ex- 
cept as it might be needed to redeem notes presented for 
redemption.* By this measure, therefore, the Government 
practically ceased to coin silver dollars, but became the pos- 
sessor of a constantly increasing quantity of the metal. 

During this administration there were a number of seri- 
ous difficulties with foreign powers. In 1891 a mob in 
New Orleans broke into a jail and killed several Italian 
prisoners confined there. The provocation to such conduct 

* During the first year two million ounces were to be coined each 
month. 



518 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

was great, inasmuch as it seems quite clear that these men 
belonged to a band of assassins who had for some time been 
plying their trade of murder and pillage, and 
itaK^' ^^^ ^^^ murdered the chief of police of the city. 
The courts had failed to convict the prisoners, 
because, as it was generally believed, the juries had been 
bribed or browbeaten. The Italian Government demanded 
the arrest and punishment of the lynchers and withdrew 
her minister from this country. Finally our Government 
brought back friendly relations by consenting to give, as an 
indication of good will, a certain sum as compensation to the 
widows and orphans of the dead Italians. 

Shortly after this there was trouble with Chili. A civil 
war was waging there between the President, who endeav- 
ored to establish himself as a permanent ruler, 
Chi?im? ^^^ *^^® Congress. Upon the defeat of the 
presidential party the American minister 
opened up his official residence as a place of security to the 
refugees. This he had a right to do, and like action was 
taken by other resident ministers ; but the victorious peo- 
ple felt, perhaps justly, that our representative had shown 
decided partisanship and had endeavored too zealously to 
assist their foes. A party of seamen from an American 
man-of-war was attacked by a mob in the streets of Valpa- 
raiso and two of them were killed. The United States de- 
manded an apology for the outrage, and a sharp correspond- 
ence followed. President Harrison sent in a full statement 
of the trouble to Congress, and for a time it appeared as if 
there might possibly be a war ; but Chili after a time sent 
" conciliatory and friendly " statements of regret, and the 
war cloud blew over. 

During these years there was much discussion concern- 
ing improved methods of conducting elections.. It was 
customary for the political committees of the contesting 
parties in the various States or in the minor civil divisions 
of the States to furnish the ballots used at the election, 



ADMINISTRATION OF HARRISON— 1889-1893. 519 

and no means was offered whereby a voter miglit prepare 
and cast his ballot in secret. A number of States now 
passed measures that were similar to or partly 
in imitation of the Australian laws on the sub- 
ject. These acts provide generally for the erection of small 
booths, into which the voter can go to prepare his ballot, 
and for the furnishing of tickets at public expense. The 
candidates of all parties are placed on the same piece of 
paper, and but one ticket is given to each elector. In this 
way the opportunities for bribery and fraud are lessened, 
since those who desire to use corrupt methods hesitate to 
purchase a man's vote when, because of the secrecy in which 
the ballot is prepared and cast, they can not be sure that 
the person who has been bribed has fulfilled his agreement. 
For the election of 1892 the Eepublicans renominated 
Harrison, making Whitelaw Eeid, of New York, the candi- 
date for Vice-President. The Democrats for the 
of 1892! ^°^ third time nominated Cleveland, and for the vice- 
presidency selected Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illi- 
nois. Thus the contest was between old rivals, and the issues 
of the campaign were not essentially different from those of 
four years before. The Republicans reaffirmed the doctrine 
of protection, and asserted that reciprocity was 
platform.*^ a success and would "eventually give us the 
control of the trade of the world"; they de- 
clared that the people favored bimetallism,* and the party 
desired " the use of both gold and silver as standard money." 
The Democrats denounced " Republican protection as a 
fraud, a robbery of the great majority of the American peo- 
ple for the benefit of the few." They declared that the 

* Bimetallism means the use of two metals as standard money and 
as full legal tender, the purpose being to determine the coinage value 
in such a way that both will circulate on a parity. Monometallists 
claim that only one metal can be a standard, and that the metals can 
not be so coined that the market value of a gold dollar and a silver 
dollar will remain the same. 



520 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Sherman Act was " a cowardly makeshift fraught with pos- 
sibilities of danger," but, like the Eepublicans, favored " the 
use of both gold and silver as the standard 
Democratic money of the country." A newly formed party, 
called the People's, or Populist, party, nomi- 
nated James B. Weaver, of Iowa, and James G. Field, of 
Virginia. Their platform demanded the free and unlimited 
coinage of silver and gold, at the ratio of 16 to 1, a gradu- 
ated income tax,* and the public ownership of telegraphs 
and railroads; it declared that the two old 
Popnlist parties were simply struggling for power and 

plunder, and that they had agreed together 
" to drown the outcries of a plundered people with the up- 
roar of a sham battle over the tariff." The Prohibitionists 
and the Socialistic-Labor party also made nominations. 

Cleveland was elected, receiving 277 out of a total of 
444 electoral votes. The Democrats obtained control of 
both houses of Congress, and so had the Gov- 
Eesultofthe ernment completely in their hands. The re- 
sult of the election showed that the People's 
party had considerable strength. Weaver received 22 elec- 
toral votes, and a popular vote of over 1,100,000. 

References. 

Moore, American Congress, pp. 488-499 ; Dewey, National Prob- 
lems. 

THE SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF GROVER CLEVELAND 

—1893-1897. 

By a revolution in the Hawaiian Islands, in January, 
1893, a new and interesting problem was introduced into 
the foreign affairs of the United States. The Queen, Liliu- 

* That is, a tax on incomes so arranged that the greater a man's in- 
come the greater the tax in proportion to the income. For example, a 
man with an income of $4,000 might have to pay $40, while a man 
with $8,000 income might have to pay $120. 



SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELAND -1893-1897. 521 

okalani, desiring to increase her power, contemplated the 

promulgation of a new constitution. The more intelligent 

residents of the islands, men who were Ameri- 

The Hawaiian ^^^ ^ l^-j,|.|^ ^^, ^^ Anglo-Saxon parentage, desir- 

revolution. -^ ^ ^ ° -^ ^ \ 

ous of being rid of a ruler whom they considered 
incompetent and corrupt, deposed the queen and established 
a government republican in form. During the progress of 
the revolution troops were landed from an American cruiser, 
the alleged purpose being the protection of American citi- 
zens and property. Immediately after the establishment of 
the new government commissioners were sent to the United 
States to propose annexation. A treaty was agreed upon 
between the two governments and was sent to the Senate 
for ratification. Before the Senate had passed upon the 
treaty President Harrison's administration came to an end. 
Meanwhile the American minister at Honolulu had, at the 
invitation of the new government, established a protectorate 
over the islands in the name of the United States. 

One of the first acts of President Cleveland's administra- 
tion was to withdraw the treaty from the Senate. He then 
_ ,, sent a special commissioner to the islands to 

Hawaiian make an investigation and to report upon the 

policy. facts regarding the condition of Hawaii and 

the cause of the revolution. The commissioner, upon ar- 
rival, announced that the protectorate was at an end and 
ordered the American flag hauled down. After an investi- 
gation, which the friends of annexation declared was unfair 
and partial, he reported to his Government that the success 
of the revolution was due to the encouragement of the 
United States minister and to the landing of the United 
States troops. After receiving this report President Cleve- 
land and his Secretary of State, Walter Q. Gresham, en- 
deavored to right the wrong which they believed had been 
committed. Expressions of regret were sent to the Queen, 
and she was asked to " rely on the justice of this Govern- 
ment to undo the flagrant wrong." This effort on the part 



522 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

of our Government was fruitless. In December the Presi. 
dent sent a message to Congress reviewing the matter and 
declaring that he would be glad "to co-operate in any 
legislative plan " which might solve the problem consist- 
ently "with American honor, integrity, and morality." 
Nothing was done by Congress. 

In the early summer of 1893 there were various evi- 
dences of a severe commercial panic. For some time there 

had been a great decline in trade, and men who 
"^iS^ wished to borrow money for business purposes 

found it difficult to do so even on the best of 
security. The foreign capitalists that held bonds or stocks 
in American enterprises sought repeatedly to dispose of 
them, in consequence of which there was great depression 
in all industry. An immense amount of gold left the coun- 
try ; the year ending June 30th over one hundred and eight 
million dollars was exported. As a result of the depression 
and the difficulty of obtaining money, and because the basis 
of all credit — namely, men's confidence in the ability of 
others to pay — was rudely shaken, failures of mercantile 
houses occurred in great numbers. There were doubtless 
many causes for this trouble, among which was the fact 
that for some time previously there had been in many 
places an unwholesome excitement and zeal in business 
ventures, resulting in what is commonly known as over- 
production. Towns of the Western and Central States 
were " boomed " in a way that recalls to mind the infatua- 
tion of 1835-'36. 

Some persons believed that the panic came because busi- 
ness men in this country and foreigners owning American 

securities feared that the United States would 
M 3rd 1893. ^^^P* ^ si^^^^ standard, so that debts would be 

paid in a dollar the bullion value of which was 
less than three fourths the value of a gold dollar, by which 
at that time all debts and commodities were measured. Presi- 
dent Cleveland called an extra session of Congress for Au- 



SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELA:ND— 1893-1897. 523 

gust, declaring in his proclamation that " the present perilous 
condition of the country " was largely the result of unwise 
financial legislation. When Congress met, the President 
sent in a message recommending the repeal of those pro- 
visions of the Sherman Act which authorized the Govern- 
ment to purchase silver. A bill for this purpose was 
quickly passed by the House, but the Senate did not pass 
the measure till the end of October. This action seems to 
have had little effect in restoring confidence or bringing 
back better times. The depression in indus- 
Depression ^ continued to exist. Before winter set in it 

continues. "^ i • i i 

was estimated that eighty thousand people in 
New York, one hundred and twenty thousand people in 
Chicago, and sixty thousand people in Philadelphia were out 
of employment, and many of them were suffering from want. 
During this summer of panic and business depression a 
world's fair was held at Chicago to celebrate the four hun- 
dredth anniversary of the discovery of Amer- 
?ah-.^°'^^'' ^^^* ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ international exhibitions as 
yet attempted this was by far the greatest. 
The chief buildings, designed by competent architects, were 
beautiful examples of chaste and noble architecture, which 
must have left an indelible impression on the minds of all 
who beheld them. The grounds upon the shores of Lake 
Michigan were charming and attractive. The nations of 
the world vied with one another in sending costly and 
artistic exhibits. The attendance was very large, especially 
during the last two months of the Exposition. That such 
an exhibition, with its magnificent buildings and its great 
display of wealth and culture, could be held in a city where 
but seventy years before only a little army post and a strag- 
gling frontier village existed, was a striking proof of the 
astonishing development of the great West and of iVmerican 
thrift and progress. 

* The celebration would naturally have occurred in 1892, but it was 
found inapossible to make the necessary preparations. 



524 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

For a number of years England and the United States 
had been at variance over the subject of the seal fisheries 

in Bering Sea. To protect the seals from total 
The seal extinction some regulations and restrictions 

were imperatively necessary. To settle the 
dispute in a friendly and sensible way, and also to deter- 
mine some method of preserving the seals from complete 
destruction, it was agreed that the whole matter should be 
referred to a court of arbitration. The court met in Paris 

in the spring of 1893. It was composed of two 
The Paris members from the United States and two from 

Great Britain, one from France, one from Italy, 
and one from Sweden and Norway. Our Government made 
two main contentions : (1) That the United States had juris- 
diction and dominion in the Bering Sea ; (2) that the seals 
making their homes and rearing their young on the islands 
of this sea were our property, even though they might tem- 
porarily migrate far out into the Pacific Ocean. The court 
gave a decision adverse to the United States, but issued 
regulations for the protection and reasonable preservation 
of the seals — regulations which, it was hoped, would be suf- 
ficient for the purpose. 

The year 1894 was marked by great and disastrous 
strikes, during the progress of which much property was 

destroyed and the traffic and commerce of a 
Strikes and large portion of the country thrown into serious 

confusion. The worst disturbances occurred at 
Chicago. The difficulty had its beginning in a movement 
by the employees in the Pullman factories and car shops 
for higher wages than the company said it could give. 
After the strike had lasted some weeks, it was extended, 
under the direction of the Eailway Union, a society of rail- 
way workmen, to the railways that on demand had refused 
to cease the running of Pullman cars. President Cleveland 
sent Federal troops to Chicago to protect United States 
property, secure peaceful transmission of the mails, and 



a 



SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELAND— 1893-1897. 525 

prevent interference with interstate commerce. The dis- 
order was finally quelled. 

The President was anxious that, in conformity with 
Democratic pledges, his party, now in control of both 

^. ^.„ houses of Congress, should pass a new tariff 
TheWilsonBiU. x x i ^i i j, ^i ^r ^- -. 

measure to take the place oi the McKmley 

Bill. An act known as the Wilson Bill, lowering the duty 
on many articles, was enacted. It was expected that the 
revenue from duties on imports would be materially cut 
down by this act, and to provide the requisite revenue a 
tax on incomes of over four thousand dollars 
tex! '""''""^ W'^s provided for. The constitutionality of this 
portion of the law was later called in question 
before the Supreme Court. By a vote of five to four the 
court held that the income tax was, taken as a whole, a 
direct tax, and it was declared inoperative and void because 
not apportioned among the States as the Constitution 
directs.* 

President Cleveland's second administration was not free 
from embarrassing and serious problems in the conduct of 
foreign affairs. A re])ellion in Cuba against 
rompHcations. ^he power of Spain found many sympathizers 
in America, so that it became necessary for the 
President to issue a proclamation warning all citizens 
against the violation of the neutrality laws. At the end of 
1895 more disquieting events occurred. Venezuela and 
Great Britain had long been contending concerning the 
proper boundary between the former state and British 
Guiana. The United States desired to bring about a set- 
tlement of the dispute by arbitration. Great Britain re- 
fused to submit the matter to arbitration, and 
teoubTe.'''''''^^'' questioned the right of the United States to 
interfere. Mr. Olney, the Secretary of State 
after the death of Mr. Gresham, insisted that this Govern- 
ment had a right to interpose, and that such interposition 

* See Constitution, art. i, sec. ii, § 3. 



526 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

was in line with the principle of the Monroe doctrine and 
in accordance with traditional American policy. December 
17th the President sent a message to Congress, with the cor- 
respondence that had passed between the governments. 
The message declared that inasmuch as Great Britain re- 
fused to submit to impartial arbitration, in the absence of 
other means of discovering the true lines in the disputed 
territory the United States should investigate the matter and 
come to its own decision. He advised, therefore, an appro- 
priation for a commission to make such investigation and to 
report its findings. "When such report is made and ac- 
cepted," the President declared, " it will, in my opinion, be 
the duty of the United States to resist by every means in 
its power, as a willful aggression upon its rights and iaiter- 
ests, the appropriation by Great Britain of any lands or the 
exercise of governmental jurisdiction over any territory, 
which after investigation we have determined of right be- 
long to Venezuela." Congress immediately appropriated 
one hundred thousand dollars for a commission (December 
18-20, 1895), and the President appointed its members. 
The country was startled by these proceedings, for no one 
had been aware that our relations with Great Britain were 
at all critical. There was considerable difference of opinion 
among the people as to the wisdom of Mr. Olney's dispatches 
and the President's message, and there was everywhere great 
interest and considerable, but not alarming, excitement. 

While the commission was engaged in investigating the 
claims of England and Venezuela, the English and Ameri- 
can governments continued to discuss the 

Arbitration l- ' t j i t t? 

agreed upon. question in dispute by correspondence. Eng- 
land finally consented to leave the matter to 
an international tribunal, two members of which should be 
judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. To this 
Venezuela agreed. Thus war was avoided, and the diffi- 
culty determined in accordance with the precepts of civiliza- 
tion and not the instincts and passions of barbarism. The 



SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELAND— 1893-1897. 527 

President and the English ministry also agreed npon a treaty 
establishing a general court of arbitration, but this treaty 
the Senate rejected. 

After the panic of 1893 the General Government found 
it difficult to keep a sufficient amount of gold in the Treas- 
ury to assure the redemption of notes and 
United States securities in that metal. The 
President and his Cabinet believed that, if the gold should 
get so low that silver was used for sucli purposes, there 




would at once be great financial distress, and that our credit 
at home and abroad would be ruiDcd. To secure gold the 
Government resorted to the sale of bonds, and in this way 
increased the national debt by over two hundred and fifty 
m.illion dollars. This sale of bonds was very much con- 
demned by many persons and as strongly defended by 
others. 

The Republican party nominated William McKinley, of 
Ohio, and Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey. They declared 
in their platform : " We are opposed to the free coinage of 
silver except by international agreement with the leading 
commercial nations of the world, which we pledge ourselves 



528 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

to promote, and until such agreement can be obtained the 
existing gold standard must be observed." The Democratic 

party nominated William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, 
piTtfomTisge. ^^^ Arthur Sewall, of Maine. The platform 

demanded " the free and unlimited coinage of 
both gold and silver at the present legal ratio of sixteen 
to one " ; it also declared its opposition " to the issuing of 
interest-bearing bonds in time of peace." 

The People's party also chose Mr. Bryan as their candi- 
date for the presidency, but nominated Thomas E. Watson, 
of Georgia, for Vice-President. Mr. Bryan was also nomi- 
nated by a party calling itself the Silver party. A large 
number of Democrats were entirely out of sympathy with 
the platform adopted by their party, and held another con- 
vention, which nominated John M. Palmer, of Illinois, 
and Simon B. Buckner, of Kentucky, and declared in favor 
of the gold standard. 

The campaign was full of intense interest. Iso other 
election since the civil war has stirred the nation so deeply. 

Although other issues were discussed some- 
Results of what, the silver question was the chief subject 

of dispute. Spite of the excitement, it was a 
campaign of discussion and argument, not of abuse. The 
Republicans were successful. Mr. McKinley received two 
hundred and seventy-one electoral votes and Mr. Bryan one 
hundred and seventy-six. 

ADMINISTRATIONS OF WILLIAM McKINLEY— 1897-1901, 
AND THEODORE ROOSEVELT— 1901-1909 

AYilliam McKinley was born in Ohio in 1843. Enlisting 
as a private soldier at the outbreak of the civil war, he 
served with distinction throughout the four years, leaving 
the army as major. From 1877 to 1891 he was a representa- 
tive in Congress from Ohio, and became one of the best 
known men in the Republican party and one of the most 
energetic and effective men in the House, distinguishing 



ADMINISTRATION OF McKINLEY— 1897-1901. 



529 



The Dingley 
tariff. 



Cuba. 



himself especially by his advocacy of the tariff. In 1891 he 
was elected Governor of Ohio, and held the office for two 
terms. 

Two days after his inauguration the President sum- 
moned Congress to meet in extra session. In his first mes- 
sage he called attention to the fact that for 
some years past the expenditures of the Govern- 
ment had exceeded the receipts, and said that 
there was an evident necessity for the prompt passage of a 
tariff bill which would provide ample revenue. Congress 
soon passed an act known as 
the Dingley tariff bill, which 
very materially increased the 
duties. 

The insurrection in Cuba, 
which had caused trouble in 
the United States 
and anxiety to the 
previous Administration, was 
still in progress, and was daily 
producing more and more rest- 
lessness and uneasiness among 
the people of America. Many 
persons felt, naturally, a sym- 
pathy with a people who were 
fighting for their independence 
from a nation whose colonial 
policy had consisted, from the beginning, in extorting as 
much as possible from the colony for the sake of the mother 
country, with little regard for the needs or the rights of the 
colonists. Moreover, the people of the United States were 
shocked by the methods used in the suppression of the re- 
bellion, which were cruel in the extreme, entailing untold 
misery not so much upon the soldiers in arms as on the 
women, children, and other non-combatants. A large por- 
tion of the whole island was laid waste, its commerce de- 




<^::^j75L'v7J^_ 



530 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

stroyed, while tens of thousands of its citizens died of want 
and starvation. American residents in Cuba were at times 
ill treated, and our Government forced to call upon Spain 
for indemnity. We were obliged to police our shores to 
prevent " filibustering expeditions " carrying arms, ammuni- 
tion, and re-enforcements to the rebels. American com- 
merce with the island was in large measure broken up, and, 
though we had legally no right to complain of this inevita- 
ble result of the rebellion, the patience of our people was so 
sorely tried that it became evident that before long our Gov- 
ernment would be compelled by Spain's own cruelty to de- 
mand a cessation of hostilities. In Cleveland's administra- 
tion an effort had been made to induce Spain to grant Cuba 
self-government, if not independence ; but Spain would have 
none of it, and even redoubled her energies to crush the 
rebellion, continuing with greater zeal upon her appalling 
work of desolation and destruction. Renewed overtures 
from our Government, after Mr. McKinley became Presi- 
dent, were met with assurances that local self-government 
would be granted to Cuba, but it was now too late. The 
insurgents were not ready to accept anything less than inde- 
pendence, and the war continued. 

The situation, already full of trouble, was aggravated 
by an event which stirred the American people as few 

events in our history have done. The battle 
The Maine gj^jp Maine, while lying in the harbor of Havana, 

was destroyed by an explosion and sunk, carry- 
ing down over two hundred and fifty sailors and officers. 
After a careful examination, a court of naval officers reached 

the conclusion that the ship was " destroyed by 
ISQS^^^^ ^^' ^^^® explosion of a submarine mine, which caused 

the explosion of two or more of her forward 
magazines." After the rendering of the report it was ap- 
parent that war was imminent. One is loath to believe that 
the Spanish Government was itself guilty of such an atro- 
cious outrage; but some of the Spanish officers perhaps 



ADMINISTRATION OF McKlNLEY— 1897-1901. 



531 



were, and if they were not, the disaster was an impressive 
proof of a state of things in Cuba that was intolerable.* 




The Maine. 

Some further negotiations were carried on between the 
two governments, and though Spain now made conces- 
sions and promises, they produced little impres- 
ego la ions. ^.^^^ upon the United States, which was weary 
of making remonstrances and peaceful representations and 
of waiting for the fulfillment of promises. The Presi- 
dent sent a message to Congress, April 11th, giving a 
history of the Cuban difficulty for the preced- 
ing three years, and asking Congress to em- 
power him " to take measures to secure a full 
and final termination of hostilities between the Government 
of Spain and the people of Cuba, and to secure in the 
island the establishment of a stable government capable of 
maintaining order and observing its international obliga- 
tions, insuring peace and tranquillity and the security of its 
citizens, as well as our own, and to use the military and 
naval forces of the United States as may be necessary for 
these purposes." 



President's 



* See President McKinley's message, April 11, 1898. 



532 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

On the 19th, Congress passed a series of resolutions de- 
claring that the people of Cuba " are and of right ought to 
be free and independent," demanding that 
Sr''"'''^ Spain withdraw her troops and relinquish her 
authority, empowering the President to use 
the army and navy and to call forth the militia to enforce 
the resolutions, and disclaiming any disposition or inten- 
tion to annex or exercise control over the island. 

Prompt steps were taken to carry these resolutions into 
effect. An ultimatum was drawn up announcing that 



N T I c 



,.-"^° 



T A ^ ^ ^ o r o^ 




' \Mirrnn , 'i;ijiiiion / ' ig-a --, "Cj-O 



if" CULEBRA I 

iiiuacao 



lEQUES OR CRAB I 



■/ rj CAJA DE MUERTOS I. 

^ ^ ^ 4 AT s r. ^ 



N 



PORTO RICO 

SCALE OF MILES 



10 20 30 40 



Spain must before noon of the 23d of April give a satisfac- 
tory answer to our demands or the President would use 

force to compel acquiescence. The Spanish 
April, 1898. minister at Washington immediately demanded 

his passports, and the American minister at 
Madrid was given his before he could present the ulti- 
matum. A fleet was at once sent from Key Wesfc to 
blockade Havana, and war was thus begun. A few days 
later Congress formally declared that war was in progress. 
The first decisive action of the war cost Spain her eastern 
dependencies. On the first day of May, Commodore George 



ADMINISTRATION OP McKINLEY— 1897-1901. 533 

Dewey sailed into Manila Bay, in the Philippine Islands, 
and in a few hours destroyed the Spanish fleet. Not a life 
was lost on the American vessels. Land troops under Gen- 
eral Merritt were soon sent to the Philippines, and the city 
of Manila was taken (August 13). In the meantime, fight- 
ing had been begun in Cuba itself and the adjacent waters. 
A Spanish fleet under Admiral Cervera left Spain soon after 
the outbreak of the war, and for a time its destination was 
unknown. There was some fear that the cities along the 
Atlantic coast might be attacked, but uneasiness on that 
score proved to be needless ; for the Spaniards sailed from 
the Cape Verde Islands to the northern coast of South 
America, and thence, after a short delay, to Santiago, a good 
harbor on the southern shore of Cuba, where for a time 
they were safe from attack, and where they could do no 
damage to the American marine. There for some weeks 
they were blockaded by a strong and well-equipped fleet 
under Admiral Sampson. The monotony of the blockade 
was relieved by a daring but unsuccessful attempt, by Lieu- 
tenant Hobson and a small crew, to block the harbor by 
sinking the Merrimac, an old merchant ship, in the channel 
of the harbor. Troops were shipped to Santiago, and were 
landed in the vicinity of the city. They attacked the de- 
fences of the place, and after some hard and brilliant fight- 
ing took San Juan Hill and El Caney. As there was no 
longer hope of retaining the city. Admiral Cervera deter- 
mined upon making a desperate attempt to escape with his 
ships, which were no match for the blockading squadron. 
On the morning of July 3d, the Spaniards sailed out of the 
harbor, but the effort at flight was fruitless, and the whole 
fleet was destroyed. The city soon afterward surrendered 
to General Shafter. After this there was little serious fight- 
ing. An American army landed in Porto Rico, and took 
possession of the island without much opposition. 

On the 12th of August preliminary terms of peace were 
agreed upon at Washington, the French minister acting in 



534 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Dushi Channel 
^ NORTH I. ^ 

BATANIS.^"* ir?f 

Balintanq Channel _ 

^ ^BASUYAN 

g ISLANDS 

C. Bojeador *» ^ ^ 

Solvei: 
Jiallnha^,, 



PHILIPPINE 
ISLANDS 

SCALEOF MILES 
25 50 



,7 » 

' C. S. lldiforiio 



behalf of Spain. By the terms of this arrangement Spain 
promised to surrender all claim to Cuba, and to cede to the 

United States Porto Eico and all other Span- 
Peace, -gi^ islands in the West Indies, as well as an 
August, 1898. . _ _ _ ^ _ 

island m the Ladrones. It was also agreed 

that the United States should hold the city and harbor of 
Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty which should 

determine the final 
disposition of the 
Philippine Islands. 
Commissioners ap- 
pointed by both na- 
tions met at Paris 
and concluded a 
definitive treaty, in 
which Spain gave 
assent to all the ex- 
press stipulations 
raid promises of the 
preliminary agree- 
ment, and also gave 
up to the United 
States all sovereign- 
ty over the Philip- 
pine Islands. Feb- 
ruary 6, 1899, tlie 
treaty was ratified 
by the American 
Senate.* 

It seems strange 

indeed that at the 

end of the nineteenth century the United States and Spain 

should be at war — a war growing out of Spain's colonial 

policy, and caused in large measure by the method of colo- 



^^ \POLILLO I 



-V/ 



Cili 



'i'^>o 






■CATANDUANES I 



\ yA,Ci,tre^^^g,rdino 



yA 



ISLANDS'^ Pandan^N^v^ SiP\ '^''^ 




bau J< 



7^ NEQ^b^j 
Dumagiiete^ ^jj 



yl. 



SULU SEA Dapitano->j ^^j 
^ Pi. Coron,!.! : 



\.^ASILAN I. 




* Twenty million dollars was given Spain for the Philippines. 



ADMINISTRATION OP McKINLEY— 1897-1901. 535 

nial administration that marked tlie beginnings and has sul- 
lied the course of her history in the New World. The defeat 
S anisli and ^^ *^^® Spanish armada, says a recent writer, with 
English truth, was the opening event in the history of 

colonies. ^i^^ United States. The beginning of English 

colonization in America was made with the hope that it 
would check the growth of Spain and undermine her strength. 
Who could have foreseen the long rivalry with Spain and 
the ultimate success of English and American institutions ? 
Three centuries and a quarter ago an unknown English- 
man, supposed, however, to be the intrepid Humphrey Gil- 
bert, implored tlie Queen of England to give 
him authority to attack the Spanish shipping 
and the colonial establishments of the West Indies. " I 
will do it if you allow me," he said ; " only you must resolve 
and not delay — the wings of man's life are plumed with the 
feathers of death." Time has proved that great national 
movements are not for a moment, and are not depend- 
ent on the resolutions or delays of a queen or a passing 
generation. 

During the progress of the war the annexation of the 
Hawaiian Islands was finally consummated. A joint reso- 
lution was passed through Congress providing 
the Hawaiian ^^^' ^^^^ acquisition of the islands and for their 
Islands, July, temporary government. A group of twelve 
islands, with an area of 6,677 square miles and 
a population of about 100,000 persons, one-half of them 
native islanders, was thus made American territory. 

The war is still too near for its full meaning to appear, 
although it is plain tliat, short as it was, it was of great sig- 
nificance. The United States, by the acquisi- 
ofwfr'^^^*^^ tion of dependencies, "insular possessions," 
took upon itself new tasks. Its progress hith- 
erto had been by a gradual western expansion, by reaching 
out for territory that lay at its very door ; it had built it- 
self up by the establishment of new settlements on its own 




53G 



ADMINISTRATION OP McKINLEV— 1897-1901. 537 

territory, on land uninhabited by civilized men.* Could 
the country, which had shown much marked capacity for 
subduing a continent and extending free government, man- 
age wisely and successfully colonial establishments in dis- 
tant parts of the globe? Such was the serious question 
with which men found themselves confronted; to that 
question only time can give answer. 

There was considerable opposition to annexation of the 
Philippines ; and after annexation there was much opposi- 
,, ^ _ tion to the retention of the islands. Some per- 
mpena sm. ^^^^^ protested against the policy of " imperial- 
ism," the policy of holding a land and its people in a de- 
pendent condition, without the privileges and full rights of 
citizenship and without the hope of speedy entrance into 
the Union ; they argued that such action meant a surren- 
der of the fundamental principles of the republic. In reply, 
it was said tliat our evident duty was to take the islands 
from Spain and give them good government; that the duty 
v/as not to be avoided by mere declarations of theory, or by 
any announcement of political maxims ; that it Avas our 
business to assume the obligations that had come to us.^ 
We need not enter further into this question, which, for the 
time being, belongs to the realm rather of argument than 
of history. We may notice, however, that whatever mis- 
takes may have been made, an earnest effort has been 
directed toward giving the people of the Philippines honest 
government, good schools, and a new chance in the world. 
Whether America will succeed in maintaining a policy 
based on unselfish service, must depend on the generous 
spirit of our people and on the demand they make for up- 
right oflflcials to represent them. 

Certain tasks demanding immediate attention were left 
in the train of the war. Some of these were quickly at- 

* Alaska is, of course, an exception, for it was not contiguous terri- 
tory ; it was, liowever, sparsely inhabited, and its administration caused 
no particular difficulties. 
36 



538 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

tended to. A civil government was established in Porto 
Eico by act of Congress (April, 1900). In the Phili^opines, 

the natives, under the leadership of Aguinaldo, 
Work m the broke out in rebellion against their new rulers. 

This uprising was put down, but not without 
difficulty (1901). A new civil commission, provided for by 
Congress, took charge of the islands. Meantime, much 
was doue to restore order in Cuba, and after the Cubans 
themselves had successfully founded a government the 
military forces of the United States were withdrawn. Of 
the greatest importance was the work of the American offi- 
cials in the new tropical, or semi-tropical, countries in im- 
proving sanitary conditions. Yellow fever was practically 
banished from Cuba, and in the Philippines a diligent and 
not unsuccessful struggle was made against cholera and 
the plague.* 

In tracing these events, we have passed over the election 
of 1900. The Republicans nominated William McKinley 

and Theodore Roosevelt ; the Democrats, Will- 

fngoo. ^^^^ J- ^^'^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^' Stevenson. The 

platforms of the two leading parties contained 
no statement of new issues, save that the Democratic plat- 
form declared against the acquisition of dependencies and 
the formation of a large standing army — the policy of the 
party was *' anti-imperialistic." The Republicans were again 
successful, their candidates receiving 292 electoral votes out 
of the total of 447. 

President McKinley's new administration had only well 

* The discovery by Major Reed, a medical olFicer of the army, and 
others, that the germ of yellow fever is carried by a mosquito, and that 
in this manner the disease is communicated from a person sick with the 
fever to a well person, is one of the greatest and most beneficent dis- 
coveries of modern science. If proper precautions are taken, it now 
seems possible to secure practical immunity from the dreaded disease 
which has been the scourge of Cuba and other tropical countries, and 
has more than once wrought great havoc in the United States. 



ADMTNLSTRATION OF ROOSEVELT— 1901-1909 539 

begun when he was assassinated by an anarchist at Buffalo, 
N. Y. ; lie was shot September G, and died on tlie 14th, 1901. 

No word is needed here to tell of the sorrow 
De^hof q£ |-|^g people over this unspeakable crime. 

President McKinley had a personal charm of 
manner, and a noble temperament which won for him the 
affection as well as the respect even of those who were 
strongly opposed to him on party issues. 

Theodore Roosevelt at once assumed the duties of the 
presidency, announcing his intention to follow the plans 

and policies of his predecessor. The new presi- 
Theodore ^^^^^ ^^^ .^ ^^^^-^ ^^j^^^ though comparatively 

young for such high position, had seen varied 
public service. He had taken an active part in the political 
work of the city and State of New York, had been a mem- 
ber of the Federal Civil Service Commission, had acted as 
xissistant Secretary of the Navy, and had served as an offi- 
cer in the Spanish war. He had also distinguished himself 
in literature, achieving a well-earned reputation as a writer 
of history and biography.* 

President Eoosevelt retained the cabinet of President 
McKinley. John Hay, the Secretary of State, who had al- 
ready won distinction because of his wisdom 
New Tasksi 

and his knowledge of diplomatic conditions, 

held a position of peculiar influence, for the United States 

* His most noted work is The Winning of the West, a brilliant his- 
tory of the deeds of the frontiersmen in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the 
Old Northwest. His Gouverneur Morris, Thomas Benton, and The 
Naval War of 1813 are also good and interesting books. Every boy 
should know his Hunting Trips of a Ranchman and his Hunting the 
Grizzly. Though well known by his brother historians as a successful 
writer, perhaps his best-known words to-day are those advocating the 
"strenuous life," the life of effort, of struggle, of ambition, of progress, 
the life which shuns inglorious and selfish eiise: "Let us, therefore, 
boldly fa(!e the life of strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully ; 
resolute to uphold righteousness by deed and by word ; resolute to be 
both honest and brave, to serve high ideals yet to use practical methods." 



54:0 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

was confronted in the course of the years of Roosevelt's 
first administration with many delicate questions of foreign 
affairs. The acquisition of the Philippines brought us into 
close relations with the nations of the far East and brought 
home to us the problems of the Orient, and, moreover, it 
was quite impossible, or at least seemed impossible, to 
stand aloof from the perplexities of the rest of the world. 
America, now a powerful nation, unentangled with Euro- 
pean obligations, facing two oceans, and holding position as 
both a Pacific and an Atlantic power, was, almost in spite 
of herself, confronted with serious diplomatic responsibili- 
ties. The policy of the administration was to support the 
integrity of China; to advocate the "open-door" (equality 
of commercial opportunity in the far East) ; to treat with 
fairness the countries of South America, and in pursuance of 
the Monroe Doctrine to uphold the influence of the United 
States in this hemisphere ; to maintain a navy which should 
gradually be strengthened; and, while not hesitating to 
take an active part in world politics, to cultivate peace with 
other nations. Some important questions, involving the 
South American states, arose, and for the time being, at 
least, were successfully managed. The policy of support- 
ing a strong navy was naturally criticized by those who be- 
lieved that it was an unnecessary burden and expense for 
America to assume. 

The time had come when it seemed desirable for the 
United States to take upon itself the building of a canal 
through the Isthmus of Panama. As early as 
1850 England and America entered into an 
agreement on this subject, but by a new treaty formed in 
1901 it was agreed that the United States might own and 
defend the canal route and provide for keeping it neutral. 
With Colombia, however, through whose territory the canal 
was to pass, unexpected difficulty arose ; the treaty giving 
the United States the right to construct and control the 
canal was rejected by Colombia. At this juncture the state 



ADMINISTRATION OF ROOSEVELT— 1901-1909 54I 

of Panama, then a portion of Colombia, revolted and an- 
nounced its independence, which was at once recognized 
by the United States. A treaty with the new republic gave 
the right to build and own the canal, the United States 
making a monetary compensation to Panama. All rights 
and property of the old French Canal Company, which 
had already done considerable work, were purchased, a 
commission was appointed, and preliminary work was at 
once begun. 

Other events of President Roosevelt's administration 

must be told in a word. One was the great anthracite coal 

strike of 11)02, when one hundred and forty-five 

Events of thousand men a^ave up work ; the production 

importance. . *^ ^ *- 

of anthracite coal ceased, and the country was 
threatened with serious suffering from the want of fuel. 
After the strike had lasted several months, the President 
induced the strikers and mine owners to submit their dif- 
ferences to arbitration, and a commission which was ap- 
pointed succeeded in bringing about a settlement. In 
January, 1903, a treaty was made with England providing 
for determination of the boundary of Alaska. A commis- 
sion sitting in London, made up of Americans and English- 
men, reached a conclusion upholding American claims in 
most particulars. This was in some ways a very notable 
event, because in the ordinary course of arbitration a ques- 
tion is submitted to a court in which the decision rests, or 
is likely to rest, on the judgment of those who are not 
citizens of the rival nations, whereas in this case the court 
was made np of citizens of the United States, England, and 
Canada, and the English representative, with praiseworthy 
fairness of mind, voted against the claims of his own coun- 
try in important respects. Among the significant facts of 
these years we should mention the establishment of a new 
department of the government, the Department of Com- 
merce and Labor (1903) ; the inauguration of large plans 
for the irrigation of western arid lands ; the celebration of 



542 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

the acquisition of Louisiana, by the Louisiana Purchase 
Exposition at St. Louis (1904). 

At the election of 1904, Theodore Eoosevelt and Charles 

W. Fairbanks were nominated by the Republicans ; Judge 

Alton B. Parker and Henry G. Davis by the 

1904!°''°^ Democrats. The result of the election was 

the choice of the Republican candidates by a 

large electoral majority. 

The years of Roosevelt's second term were full of 
activity in the commercial and political life of the nation. 
Once again the country, fully recovered from the depres- 
sion of 1893-1897, entered upon a career of marvelous 
industrial growth. Immigrants poured into the country ; 
the cities grew with wonderful rapidity ; the prices of com- 
modities rapidly rose. The farmers of the west, recover- 
ing from the hard times of the years before, stored their 
barns with grain, filled the elevators, and added to their 
bank accounts. The great problem of the year 1906 was 
how to get cars and engines and railway lines to carry 
the enormous traffic of the land. Unfortunately, the year 
1907 brought depression again, but not disaster. The 
growth of the west through the period is best illustrated by 
the fact that Oklahoma came in as a state, a young, vigor- 
ous, hopeful, determined democracy. The whole west, 
however, was full of energy and prosperity. 

In 1908 the Democrats again nominated Mr. Bryan. 
The Republicans nominated Mr. William H. Taft, who for 
some time past had been Secretary of War. 
iS°^ °^ "^^^^ discussions of the campaign were, as a 
rule, on a high plane, not descending to mere 
abuse or recrimination, one of the encouraging signs in 
our public life. The subjects chiefly discussed were a re- 
vision of the tariff, the issuing of injunctions in strikes and 
labor disputes, the guaranty of bank deposits, and above 
all the question as to what should be tlie attitude toward 
the great corporations and the "" trusts." It is difficult in 



ADMINISTRATION OF ROOSEVELT— 1901— 1909 543 

a word to distinguish between the two parties; both ex- 
pressed a desire for the revision of the tariff; but the 
Republicans asserted that revision should be made by the 
friends of the protective principle — in other words, by them- 
selves. The Republicans strongly objected to the proposal 
to guaranty bank deposits. The Democrats were desirous of 
going further than the Republicans in limiting the right 
of courts to issue injunctions * against labor leaders in dis- 
putes endangering property. In general it may safely be 
said that the attitude of the leaders of the parties were not 
essentially dissimilar; but, as might be expected from the 
character and history of the two parties, the Democrats 
were, or appeared to be, more radical. At all times the 
party, out of power, is likely to demand greater alterations 
and more positive action than does the party that feels 
some responsibility for what has been and is. But on both 
sides there was in essentials a like attitude, a determina- 
tion to correct injustice and wrong in the business world 
(as far as it seemed possible and wise to do so by legisla- 
tion) and to improve the social order by provident regula- 
tions. The Republicans were successful, with a popular 
plurality of 1,244,494 votes and with a large electoral 
majority. 

Looking back upon the years of President Roosevelt's 
administration, we see them crowded with action and show- 
ing considerable achievement. The United vStates, bur- 
dened by new responsibilities as a result of the Spanish 
War, entered with some boldness into the realm of world 
politics, not interfering with purely European affairs, but 
taking a decided part in all questions affecting the western 
continent and the Orient. Through Mr. Roosevelt's good 

* An injunction is an order issued by a court, directing a person or 
persons to refrain from doing certain things, and is especially directed 
to the protection of property. Disobedience may be punished by the 
court without a jury trial, and this fact has made its issuance in labor 
disputes especially objectionable to labor leaders, 



544 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION 

offices the war between Kussia and Japan was brought to 
an end by the treaty of Portsmouth [1905]. Delicate 
questions arising from the holding of large areas in the 
Philippines by friars of the Catholic Church were settled ; 
representative government was given the people of the 
Philippines; Cuba was on more than one occasion saved 
from disorder and revolution; the Panama Canal was put 
in charge of army engineers and the work pushed rapidly 
toward completion; effort was made, chiefly through the 
services of Mr. Eoot, the Secretary of State, succeeding 
Mr. Hay, to establish more cordial relations with Mexico 
and the South American states ; eminently profitable work 
was carried on by the Department of Agriculture for tlic 
development of agricultural methods; widespread public 
interest was awakened in the saving of the natural re- 
sources, like the forests of the nation, which only a few 
years ago we thought almost unlimited ; further legislation 
was enacted to regulate the railroads engaged in interstate 
commerce, and to secure proper protection for small ship- 
pers. More important than all else, there unquestionably 
developed during these years a healthier feeling of public 
duty and a stronger demand for right conduct in the manage- 
ment of commercial enterprises affecting the public inter- 
est. The new century has, therefore, begun with promise, 
and given us hope that in the decades to come there will 
be, as never before, a sense of duty in private life and in 
civic position. 

Reference. 
Latan^, America the World Power, 



CHAPTER XIX, 
Conclusion. 

In the preceding pages we have noticed chiefly the 
facts in the political and constitutional history of the 
United States ; but political events constitute but a small 
portion of the activities of a nation. Laws are perhaps the 
best single index of the movement of society ; but the per- 
son that studies history from the laws alone gets but a 
faint idea of a nation's progress. The people develop in 
thousands of ways, and the changes of society are but 
dimly seen in legislative enactments or in the platforms of 
political parties. 

We must remember that in the hundred years and 

more since the Constitution was adopted the nation has 

grown with astonishing rapidity ; that the fun- 

Ohanges of a clamental law drawn up by the men of 1787 for 

century. t i o 

a little group of States on the margin of a 
continent is now the law of forty-six States that stretch 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In all that we study con- 
cerning the history of the country we must remember that 
the nation was always in movement, hourly waxing stronger, 
reaching out year by year for more territory, and develop- 
ing its industrial life and strength. We must remember 
that since 1787 greater changes have come over the world, 
in all that affects the industry of men, than up to that time 
had taken place since the beginning of the Christian era. 
The law that was framed by the fathers in the Philadelphia 
Convention was framed for a people who sowed their wheat, 
threshed it, and shipped it to market by the same tedious 

545 



546 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



methods and with the same crude implements that the 
world knew in the time of Solon. In the coarse of the last 
hundred years new machinery has been invented, and with 
its help man has multiplied his power. Steam and elec- 
tricity have been harnessed to do his bidding, and the whole 
industrial life of the people has been altered. Society has 
become complex; new and serious problems have arisen. 
Everywhere there has been movement and change, and 
political institutions have had to adapt themselves to a 
people that has been constantly expanding. 







DENSITY or rOPULATION 
TO A SQUARE MILE. 

90 & OVER E36 TO 18 

45 TO 90 1332 TO 6 

E] 18 TO 45 I I LESS THAN 2 



Density of Population in 1909, Shown by States. 

In 1790 the population of the United States was some- 
thing less than 4,000,000, including slaves ; in 1900 it was 

over 70,000,000. AYhen the new Government 
popdaton.°^ -was established, the center of population was 

thirty miles east of Baltimore ; it is now almost 
as far west as Indianapolis. This is one of the astounding 
facts of history; and we may remember that, if America 
has not as yet produced poets or painters or sculptors or 
musicians of the first rank, the people have subdued a 



CONCLUSION. 



547 



Immigration. 



continent ; and they have taken possession of it not as a 
nomadic horde, but have covered the plains and hillsides 
with cities and villages; they have taken with them, in 
their w^ork of winning the wilderness, tlie courthouse, the 
schoolhouse, and the church. 

Until the outbreak of the civil war the population of 
the United States doubled in each twenty-five years. Since 
that time the increase has been less rapid, and 
yet the number on the census rolls of 1900 is 
two and a half times that reported in 1860. This rapid 
increase is due in large measure, of course, to the immi- 
gration of persons who have come to America to better 
their condition. Not until 1820 was there any exact record 
kept of how many persons were coming to the United 
States; the number was at first very small, and did not 
reach one hundred thousand until 1842. Shortly before 
the civil war over four hundred thousand came in a single 
year. In 1882 the number of immigrants was over three 




fourths of a million ; in 1003 over 850,000 entered the coun- 
try, and in 1904 nearly as many — thus adding in a single year 
a population nearly three times as large as that of the city 
of Washington or of Detroit. Probably at the present time 
not more than one half of the inhabitants of this country 
are descended from persons that lived in the United States 



548 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

one hundred years ago. When we stop to consider this fact, 
we wonder that the nation has developed symmetrically and 
peaceably, and that these people of different races, with 
social customs and ideas diifering from our own, ignorant 
of our political and social system, have been absorbed into 
the nation and been so speedily transformed into American 
citizens in sympathy with American ideals. Doubtless 
this ceaseless immigration has had its dangers and still 
presents its difi&culties; but if all foreign elements can be 
assimilated into our life, the composite nation that results 
is not likely to be feeble or lacking in force, but an ener- 
getic, delicately constituted, vigorous, and forcible race. 

When the Constitution was adoj^ted the people were 

largely engaged in agriculture, and the cities were few and 

small. Philadelphia had only forty-two thou- 

arowth of g^j^(j inhabitants. New York thirty-three thou- 

citiesi . 

sand. In 1800 there were only six cities with 

over eight thousand inhabitants, and the urban population 

was less than four per cent of the total. In 1900 there 

were five hundred and forty-five cities of this size, and over 

thirty-three per cent of all the people dwelt in them. New 

York is now the second city of the world, and Chicago, 

which in 1830 was a frontier village, contains more than a 

million and a half of people. The population of Ncav York 

and Chicago together is more than that of the whole land 

in 1800. 

The United States is no longer only an agricultural 

country, as it was a hundred and twenty years ago ; its 

industries are many and varied; it has be- 
Manufactures. j. ii i j. p • • l ^ 

come one of the largest manufacturnig states 

of the world. In 1900 the capital employed in manu- 
facturing amounted to almost 110,000,000,000, the num- 
ber of workmen was more than 5,700,000, and the total 
value of the product was 113,000,000,000. In this re- 
spect there has been great development in the last few 
decades. Between 1890 and 1900 the number of factories 



1800— $1,885,801,670 
1870— 4,232,325,442 
18S0— 5,369,579,191 
1890— 9,372,437,283 
1900-11,411,121,122 
1905—14,802,147,087 


^_ Valuk of Manu- 
factured Products 


' ■' I.N IHK ITnuI'KD 

SrATKs, 1860-1905. 











Year. 
1865— 

1870- 

1880— 

1890— 

1900— 

1906— 


Tons. 
831,770 

1,665,179 

3,835,191 

9,202,703 

13,789,242 

25,307,191 


— The Production 
OF Pig Iron in thp: 

— United States, 1865- 
1906. 












1790— 


120,205,756 






1800— 
1810— 


70,971,780 
66,757,970 


■~" 


Total Value of Exports 
of Merchandise from thk 


IS'^O- 


69.691,669 


— 


United States, 1790-1907. 


1830— 


71,670,735 


— 




1840— 


123,668,932 


' 




1850— 


144.375,726 






1S60— 


333,576,057 








1870 — 

1880- 


392,771,768 
835,638,65S 






1 






1890— 


857,828,684 










1900 


1.394,483,082 
1,518,561,666 

1,880.851,078 






19D5 




1907— 









549 



550 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

increased forty-four per cent, capital fifty-one per cent, 
wages twenty-tliree per cent. The output of steel alone 
was seven hundred and fifty times as great in 1900 as 
in 1865. At the close of the civil war there were a little 
over thirty-five thousand miles of railroad in the United 
States. In 1904 the total mileage was over two hundred 
and five thousand. 

Nothing brings before us the great development of the 
country in the last few years more clearly and strikingly 

than the growth of the West. At the end of 
The progress of |.|^g Mexican War, the country west of Iowa and 

Missouri was almost unpeopled. A few Mexi- 
cans were living within the limits of New Mexico and Cali- 
fornia. The Oregon country had something over ten 
thousand inhabitants, including white people and Indian 
half-breeds. The Mormons had just moved (1847) into the 
valley of the Great Salt Lake, and were beginning their won- 
derful work of transforming the bleak Western wilderness 
into a land of plenty. Even as late as the discussion over 
the Kansas-Nebraska question, the Western prairies were 
thought by many to be a great desert, scarcely fit for tlie 
comfortable habitations of men. The first settlement in 
the Dakotas, Sioux Falls, was not made till 1857. In Wyo- 
ming, it is true, a fur-trading post was established as early 
as 1834, but there was no need of organizing a separate 
Territorial government for this region until 1868. By the 
census of 1900 the Western States and Territories, from 
the line of Missouri and Iowa to the Pacific, contained 
11,000,000 people. The great American Desert has nearly 
disappeared from the map. The desert has given place to 
vast fields of corn and wheat, and the rocky fastnesses of 
the mountain ranges are yielding marvelous mineral treas- 
ures. Colorado alone produced 129,000,000 worth of gold 
and $12,700,018 worth of silver in 1900 ; and the mineral 
production of Utah in one year is over 115,000,000. The 
two Dakotas raise $70,000,000 worth of staple agricultural 



CONCLUSION. 551 

products in a single season. These are certainly very start- 
ling figures, when one considers that, within the memory of 
men still living, these Western plains and mountain valleys 
were unpeopled and unknown. But one would have but a 
faint idea of this remarkable progress if he stopped with a 
study of industries and population. The schools, the uni- 
versities, the libraries, the churches, are witnesses to the fact 
that the graces and refinements of civilization have not been 
neglected. As the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay provided 
for town schools and a college " while the tree stumps w^ere 
as yet scarcely weather-brown in their earliest harvest fields," 
so in the new regions of the West the school and the uni- 
versity have been the foremost care of the people. 

The words of Webster can not be too often repeated : 
" On the diffusion of education among the people rest the 
preservation and perpetuation of our free insti- 
Schools. tutions." In 1870-1871 there were about seven 

and a half million pupils in our public schools; in 1906- 
1907 there were nearly seventeen millions.* Moreover, the 
endowments of colleges and universities have been greatly 
increased ; many millions have been given by the States and 
by private individuals for the advancement of higher educa- 
tion ; new universities have been founded, and the number 
of college students has multiplied. Nowhere else in the 
world is there such general interest in education. And that 
is well ; for it is wise always to remember that all our mar- 
velous growth, all the magnificent additions to material 
wealth, all the stupendous increase in population and power, 
have added to the duties of the nation ; poverty has not dis- 
appeared nor has ignorance vanished from the land ; pub- 
lic problems of vast importance face the coming genera- 

* In 1906-1907 there were in the public schools 475,238 teachers, 
more than twice as many as in 1869-1870. For the support of the pub- 
lic schools $343,602,738 were received for expenditure, a sura over twice 
as large as that received even seventeen years before. In this year, 
1906-1907, $27.98 were spent for each pupil ; in 1879-1880 only $12.71. 



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552 



CONCLUSION. 553 

tions. The only sound basis of free government is the intel- 
ligent and active interest of right-minded citizens. 

While discussing the events of Jackson's administration 
we stopped to consider the literature of the time, and to 
notice that a number of great writers had ap- 
peared whose work gave American literature a 
new dignity and worth. Many of these persons lived until 
after the civil war. Longfellow and Emerson did not die 
until 1882. Whittier, Lowell, and Holmes lived into the 
last decade of the century, the last survivors of that great 
coterie of New England writers whose noble work in prose 
and verse gave a new charm to American literature and 
added a new interest and value to American life. Ban- 
croft died in 1891, leaving his history as a great monument 
of forty years of toil. 

American authors have been especially successful in the 
writing of history. John Lothrop Motley by his volumes 
on the history of the Netherlands won a place 
M8tor°^ by the side of Prescott and Bancroft ; indeed, 
one may say that in historical grasp and appre- 
ciation, in power of analyzing character, and in the beauty, 
grace, and vigor of style he is clearly their equal, if not 
their superior. Above the three, however, stands Francis 
Parkman, in some respects the greatest historian America 
has produced. He had the accuracy and the unerring skill 
of the scientific historian, and he had, as well, imaginative 
insight, power of sympathetic interpretation, and the abil- 
ity to clothe his thoughts in peculiarly appropriate and 
charming language. Such a book as Montcalm and Wolfe 
is at once a great historical composition and a choice piece 
of fine literature. Justin Winsor's work, to which refer- 
ence has been made many times in the course of this book, 
may not give him a place among the great writers of Amer- 
ica, if one judges by the grace or felicity of expression, but 
he was one of America's most learned scholars, and his in- 
vestigations into the early history of the country showed 
37 



554 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION. 

great critical ability and remarkable mastery of details. 
Among other writers of history whose work deserves chief 
mention are Edward Eggleston, James Schouler, John B. 
McMaster, Henry Adams, and J. F. Rhodes. 

It would be quite beyond the scope and purpose of 
this book to mention the names and work of all the men 
who in recent years have written, in prose or 
iioveHstB\oets ^®^^^5 volumes that are entitled to rank as con- 
tributions to literature ; but we should notice 
that in this respect, as in others, the American people have 
shown strength and development. While the nation has 
grown and prospered, its imagination has not lain dormant 
nor been consumed in the processes of mechanical invention 
or the prosecution of business enterprises. Novelists like 
Bret Harte and William D. Howells, poets like Edmund C. 
Stedman and Thomas Bailey Aldrich, essayists like George 
William Curtis and Charles Dudley Warner, and many 
others who have written in recent years, have shown rare 
artistic skill. " In the science of language and of things, 
in the works of research, of history, and of biography, the 
new republic is closing the century with brilliancy." * In 
fact, the student of American life since the civil war has 
no reason to be discouraged. The character of the nation 
has not deteriorated ; its capacity to appreciate the good 
and the beautiful has not lessened ; its power of produc- 
tion in the realm of imagination is not diminished. 

In painting, sculpture, and architecture America has 

done as yet but little. In the Revolutionary days there 

were a few painters of considerable skill. 

Art, 

Peale, Trumbull, and Stuart possessed real 
talent, and they left many portraits of historical characters 
that are highly prized. But in the course of nearly a hun- 
dred years there seemed to be little progress ; no indication 

* Charles Dudley Warner in Shaler's The United States of America, 
vol. ii, p. 413. 



CONCLUSION. 555 

was visible of a development of artistic spirit among the 
people or of growth of artistic power. In the last quarter 
of the nineteenth century, however, there came signs of an 
awakening; a group of young artists appeared who pos- 
sessed undoubted genius ; those that had been looking for 
a new birth of American art felt that the day had come. 
There are to-day evidences of a growing power of artistic 
appreciation in the public at large. As the Centennial 
Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 quickened the artistic 
spirit in America, the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 sur- 
prised every one by its proof of wondrous achievement. It 
proved that in various branches of art the people of Amer- 
ica were now producing works of great merit — paintings, 
statuary, and buildings that were worthy of any nation ; it 
announced to the vforld that the day had gone by when 
this nation could be sneered at as a mere race of money- 
getters ; it gave proof that the art in this country was no 
longer servilely imitative, that it had passed beyond the 
time of pupilage. The architecture of the Fair showed 
that American architects were artists. The onlooker was 
forced to the conclusion that the American people, who in 
the course of a few decades had swept across a continent 
and turned the wide prairies into plowland, were possessed 
of more than mere mechanical skill and physical strength. 
Here was evidence of a greater capacity, a power to appre- 
ciate beauty, ability to minister to the aesthetic wants of 
men. The nation was shown instinct with a vigorous life 
which gave hope for the accomplishments of the future. 
Again in 1904, the beauty, extent, and magnificence of the 
Exposition at St. Louis, held to celebrate the acquisition 
of a land which one hundred years ago was almost an un- 
trodden wilderness, was not only an impressive proof of the 
wonderful growth of the people but also an encouraging 
and inspiring indication of their development in artistic 
power. 

One hundred years ago the United States was an ex- 



556 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

periment. Students of liistory who knew the fate of re- 
publics in the past hardly dared to hope that this one could 
live. The statesmen of Europe took little interest in what 
was done on this side of the ocean, and did not believe 
that a free and popular government could long survive 
over a numerous people and a wide area. Considering 
democracy as little better than anarchy, they sneered at 
the idea that the masses of the people were capable of 
self-government. So far our country has weathered the 
storm, and we still have hopes that democratic ideals will 
be reached. Politically the nation stands for the principle 
that the people are the safest custodians of power, tlu)^^ they 
can be trusted to do right, and that all are the best judges 
of what is best for all. The experience of a century has 
given us confidence ; the people in many crises have shown 
a spirit of integrity and a capacity for self-control. But if 
the future is to substantiate this principle, it will be be- 
cause men and women are intelligent, virtuous, and honest. 
No one that looks about him can fail to see that the nation 
is surrounded with perils ; for as the years go by society 
becomes more complex, its problems become more difficult, 
and the tasks of government increase ; and if our country 
is to prove the truth of the democratic principle for the 
future, it will be because the essentials of virtue and patriot- 
ism are cherished; it will be because the men and women of 
the land are courageous, honest, generous and strong, and 
because they are ready to strive for the maintenauce of the 
free institutions that the fathers of the Republic bequeathed 
to them.* It rests in large measure with the boys and girlg 

* " If we fail, the cause of free self-government throughout the world 
will rock to its foundations; and therefore our responsibility is heavy, 
to ourselves, to the world as it is to-day, and to the generations yet 
unborn. There is no good reason why we should fear the future, but 
there is every reason why we should face it seriously, neither hiding 
from ourselves the gravity of the problems before us nor fearing to 
approach these problems with the unbending, unflinching purpose to 



I 



CONCLUSION. 557 

that are now at their lessons in the schools and academies 
of the land to determine whether or not amid the perils 
of the near future the j^i'ii^ciples of popular government 
will justify themselves. 

solve them aright." — The inaugural address of President Roosevelt, 
March 4, 1905, 



# 






il ^ ^4^^ 41.. ■ ^Mnii '^- 



3 ', 



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558 









APPENDIX. 



559 



t 


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5 






































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o 


George Washington 
John Adams. 
John Jay. 
Rich'd H. Harrison 
John Rutledge. 
John Hancock. 
Scattering. 
Vacancies. 
George Washington 
John Adams. 
George Clinton. 
Thomas Jefferson. 
Aaron Burr. 
Vacancies. 
John Adams. 
Thomas Jefferson. 
Thomas Pinckney. 
Aaron Burr. 
Scattering. 
Thomas Jefferson. 
Aaron Burr. 
John Adams. 
Chas. C. Pinckney. 
John Jay. 






Federalist. 
Federalist. 
Republican. 
Republican. 

Federalist. 
Republican. 
Federalist. 
Republican. 

Republican. 
Republican. 
Federalist. 
Federalist. 




Total 
elec- 
toral 
vote. 


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^11 


s s s s 




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560 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



O O T-l 1—1 



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562 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



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APPENDIX. 



563 



Hendricks. 
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564 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Summary of the States and Territories.* 





SETTLEMENT. 


DATE OP ACT 
CREATING. 


States and Territories. 


By whom. 


When. 


Territory. 


State. 


Alabama 


French. 
Russians. 
Spanish. 
French. 
Spanish. 
Americans. 
English. 
Swedes. 
Md. and Va. 
Spanish. 
English. 
Americans. 
French. 
French. 
Americans. 
Americans. 
Virginians. 
French. 
English. 
English. 
English. 
French. 
Americans. 
French. 
French. 
Americans. 
Americans. 
Americans. 
English. 
Swedes. 
Spanish. 
Dutch. 
English. 
Americans. 
Va. and N. Eng. 
Americans. 
Americans. 
English. 
English. 
English. 
Americans. 


1713 
1805 
1598 
1670 
1769 
1832 
1633 
1627 

"'1565" 
1733 
1834 
1749 
1730 
1833 
1850 
1775 
1699 
1630 
1634 
1620 
1668 
1827 
1716 
1763 
1841 
1810 
1849 
1623 
1627 
1598 
1613 
1650 
1860 
1788 
1890 
1811 
1682 
1636 
1670 
1857 


1817 
1884 
1863 
1819 

isei 

Original 
Original 
1791 
1822 
Original 
1863 
1809 
1800 
1838 
1854 

"im" 

Original 

Original 

1805 

1849 

1798 

1812 

1864 

1854 

1861 

Original 

Original 

1850 

Original 

Original 

1861 

**i896" 

1848 

Original 

Original 

Original 

1861 


1819 


Alaska 




Arizona 




Arkansas 


1836 


California 


1850 


Colorado 


1876 


Connecticut 


State. 


Delaware 


State. 


District of Columbia 

Florida 


1845 


Georgia 


State. 


Idaho 


1890 


Illinois 

Indiana 


1818 
1816 


Iowa 


1845 


Kansas 

Kentucky 


1861 
1792 


Louisiana 


1813 


-- Maine 

Maryland 


1820 
State. 


Massachusetts 


State. 


Michigan 1 ? . . 


1837 


Minnesota 


1858 


Mississippi 


1817 


Missouri 


1821 


Montana 


1889 


Nebraska 


1867 


Nevada 


1864 


— ^New Hampshire 

New Jersey 


State. 
State. 


New Mexico 




- New York 


State. 


North Carolina 


State. 


North Dakota 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 


1889 
1803 
1907 


Oregon 


1859 


~^ Pennsylvania 


State. 


Rhode Island 


State. 


South Carolina 


State. 


South Dakota 


1889 



* From Appletons' Universal Cyclopaedia, vol. viii, p. 368. 



APPENDIX. 



565 



Summary of the States and Territories — {Continued). 



States and Territories. 


SETTLEMENT. 


DATE OP ACT 
CREATING. 


By whom. 


When. 


Territory. 


State. 


Tennessee 


N. C. and Va. 

Spanish. 

Americans. 

English. 

English. 

Americans. 

English. 

French. 

Americans. 


1765 
1630 
1847 
1763 
1607 
1811 
1607 
1750 
1834 


"1850" 

Original 
1853 

1836 

1868 


1796 


Texas 


1845 


Utah 


1896 


Vermont 


1791 


Virginia 


State 


Washington 


1889 


West Virginia . ... 


1863 


Wisconsin 


1848 


Wyoming . .... 


1890 



Cities of over 100,000 Inliahilants ; Population in 1900. 



City. 


Population. 


City. 


Population. 


New York 


3,437,202 
1,698,575 
1,293,697 
575,238 
560,892 
508,957 
381,768 
352,387 
342,782 
325,902 
287,104 
285,704 
285,315 
278,718 
246,070 
206,433 
204,731 
202,718 
175,597 


Indianapolis 

Kansas City, Mo. . . 
St. Paul 


169,164 
163,752 
163,065 
162,608 
133,859 
131,822 
129,896 
125,560 
118,421 
108 374 


Chicago 

Philadelphia 

St. Louis 


Rochester 

Denver 


Boston 


Baltimore 


Toledo 


Cleveland 


Allegheny 

Columbus 

Worcester, Mass. . . 
Syracuse 


Buffalo 


San Francisco 

Cincinnati 


New Orleans 

Detroit 


New Haven 

Paterson.. . 


108,027 
105,171 
104,863 


Milwaukee 


Pall River 

St. Joseph 

Omaha 


Washington 

Newark 


102,979 
102,555 


Jersey City 


Los A ngeles 

Memphis 


102 479 


Louisville 


102,320 


Minneapolis 

Providence 


Scranton . 


102,026 







CONSTITUTION 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



We the people of the United States, in order to form a more 
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, pro- 
vide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and 
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do 
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of 
America. 

ARTICLE I. 

Sect. 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in 
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate t.nd 
a House of Representatives. 

Sect. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
members chosen every second year by the people of the several 
States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications 
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State 
Legislature. 

No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained 
to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of 
the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhab- 
itant of that State in which he shall be chosen. 

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the 
several States which may be included within this Union, according 
to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding 
to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to serv- 
ice for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths 
of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within 
three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United 
States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such man- 
666 



APPENDIX. 567 

ner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives 
shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall 
have at least one representative; and until such enumeration shall 
be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose 
three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
tions one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Penn- 
sylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North 
Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 

When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, 
the Executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill 
such vacancies. 

The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and 
other ofiicers ; and shall liave the sole power of impeachment. 

Sect. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, 
for six years ; and each Senator shall have one vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the 
first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three 
classes. Tlie seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated 
at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the ex- 
piration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of 
the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen every second year; 
and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the 
recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may 
make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the Legis- 
lature, which shall then fill such vacancies. 

No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the 
age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that 
State for which he shall be chosen. 

The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of 
the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 

The Senate shall choose their other ofiicers, and also a President 
fro tempiwe, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall 
exercise the oflfice of President of the United States. 

The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. 
When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oatli or affirmation. 
When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice 
shall preside : and no ])erson shall be convicted without the concur- 
rence of two thirds of the members present. 



56S HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than 
to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any 
oflBce of honor, trust, or profit under the United States : but the 
party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indict- 
ment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law. 

Sect. 4. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for 
Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by 
the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law 
make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing 
Senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such 
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall 
by law appoint a different day. 

Sect. 5. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, 
and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall 
constitute a quorum to do business ; but a smaller number may ad- 
journ from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attend- 
ance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties, 
as each House may provide. 

Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish 
its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of 
two thirds, expel a member. 

Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from 
time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may ^n their 
judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of 
either House on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those 
present, be entered on the journal. 

Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without 
the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to 
any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Sect. 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a com- 
pensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out 
of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, ex- 
cept treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from 
arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective 
Houses, and in going to and returning from the same ; and for any 
speech or debate in either House they shall not be questioned in any 
other place. 

No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which 
he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority 



APPENDIX. 569 

of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emolu- 
ments whereof shall have been increased, during such time ; and no 
person holding any office under the United States shall be a member 
of either House during his continuance in office. 

Sect. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House 
of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with 
amendments as on other bills. 

Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives 
and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to the 
President of the United States ; if he approve he shall sign it, but 
if not he shall return it with his objections to that House in which 
it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on 
their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such recon- 
sideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it 
shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by 
which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and, if approved by two 
thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases 
the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and 
the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be en- 
tered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall 
not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) 
after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, 
in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their 
adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a 
law. 

Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on 
a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of 
the United States; and, before the same shall take effect, shall be 
approved by him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed 
by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, accord- 
ing to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. 

Sect. 8. The Congress shall have power, — 

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises to pay the 
debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of 
the United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uni- 
form throughout the United States ; 

To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; 

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the sev- 
eral States, and with the Indian tribes ; 
38 



570 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws 
on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States ; 

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, 
and fix the standard of weights and measures ; 

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities 
and current coin of the United States ; 

To establish post-offices and post-roads ; 

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing 
for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their 
respective writings and discoveries ; 

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court ; 

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high 
seas, and offences against the law of nations ; 

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make 
rules concerning captures on laud and water; 

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to 
that use shall be for a longer term than two years ; 

To provide and maintain a navy; 

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and 
naval forces ; 

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the 
Union, suppress insurrections, and rejiel invasions ; 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, 
and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the 
service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the 
appointment of the oflRcers, and the authority of training the militia 
according to the discipline prescribed by Congress ; 

To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over 
such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of 
particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat 
of the government of the United States ; and to exercise like author- 
ity over all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the 
State in whicli the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, 
arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings; — and 

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by 
this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any 
department or officer thereof. 

Sect. 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any 
of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be 



I 



APPENDIX. 571 

prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight 
hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such im- 
portation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person. 

The privilege of the writ of hcibeas corpus shall not be susjDended, 
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may 
require it. 

No bill of attainder or ex jpost facto law shall be passed. 

No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in propor- 
tion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken. 

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. 

No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or 
revenue to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall 
vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or 
pay duties in another. 

No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence 
of appropriations made by law ; and a regular statement and account 
of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be pub- 
lished from time to time. 

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and 
no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, 
without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolu- 
ment, ofiice, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, 
or foreign state. 

Sect. 10. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or con- 
federation : grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; emit 
bills of credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in 
payment of debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or 
law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of 
nobility. 

No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any im- 
posts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely 
necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of 
all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports, shall 
be for the use of the treasury of the United States ; and all such laws 
shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. 

No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of 
tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any 
agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, 
or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent dan- 
ger as will not admit of delay. 



57^ HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



ARTICLE II. 

Sect. 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of 
the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the 
term of four years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen 
for the same term, be elected as follows : — 

Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature 
thereof may direct, a number of Electors equal to the whole number 
of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled 
in the Congress : but no Senator or Representative, or person hold- 
ing an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be 
appointed an Elector. 

[The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by 
ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabi- 
tant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a list 
of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each ; 
which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the 
seat of the government of the United States, directed to the Presi- 
dent of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the pres- 
ence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the 
certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person 
having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such 
number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; 
and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an 
equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall 
immediately choose by ballot one of them for President ; and if no 
person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the 
said House shall in like manner choose the President. But in 
choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the 
representation from each State having one vote ; a quorum for this 
purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of 
the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a 
choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person 
having the greatest number of votes of the Electors shall be the 
Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more who have 
equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice- 
President. — Repealed hy Amendment XIL] 

Congress may determine the time of choosing the Electors, and 
the day on which they shall give their votes ; which day shall be 
the same throughout the United States. 



APPENDIX. 573 

No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the 
United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall 
be eligible to the office of President ; neither shall any person be 
eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of 
thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the 
United States. 

In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his 
death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties 
of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and 
the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, 
resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, 
declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer 
shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President 
shall be elected. 

The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a 
compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished 
during the period ior which he shall have been elected, and he shall 
not receive within that period any other emolument from the United 
States, or any of them. 

Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the 
following oath or affirmation: — " I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 
that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United 
States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and 
defend the Constitution of the United States." 

Sect. 2. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the 
army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the 
several States, when called into the actual service of the United 
States ; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal 
officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject re- 
lating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have 
power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the 
United States, except in cases of impeachment. 

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present 
concur ; and he shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public min- 
isters, and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other 
officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein 
otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law ; but 
the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior 



574 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts 
of law, or in the heads of departments. 

The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions 
which shall expire at the end of their next session. 

Sect. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress infor- 
mation of the state of the Union, and recommend to their considera- 
tion such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he 
may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of 
them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to 
the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he 
shall think proper ; he shall receive ambassadors and other public 
ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, 
and shall commission all the officers of the United States. 

Sect. 4. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of 
the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, 
and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misde- 
meanors. 

ARTICLE III. 

Sect. 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested 
in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress 
may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of 
the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good 
behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a com- 
pensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance 
in office. 

Sect. 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law 
and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United 
States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their au- 
thority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other jmblic ministers, 
and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to 
controversies to which the United States shall be a party ; to 
controversies between two or more States, between a State and citi- 
zens of another State, between citizens of different States, between 
citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different 
States, and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign 
states, citizens, or subjects. 

In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and 
consuls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme 



APPENDIX. 575 

Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before 
mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, 
both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regu- 
lations, as the Congress shall make. 

The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be 
by jury ; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said 
crimes shall have been committed ; but when not committed within 
any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress 
may by law have directed. 

Sect. 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in 
levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving 
them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason 
unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or 
on confession in open court. 

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of 
treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, 
or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Sect. 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to 
the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other 
State. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the man- 
ner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, 
and the effect thereof. 

Sect. 3. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States. 

A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other 
crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, 
shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which 
he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having juris- 
diction of the crime. 

No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or 
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but 
shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or 
labor may be due. 

Sect. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into 
this Union; but no New State shall be formed or erected within 
the jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by 
the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without 



576 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

cfte consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as 
of the Congress. 

The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all need- 
ful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property 
belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution 
shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United 
States, or of any particular State. 

Sect. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in 
this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect 
each of them against invasion ; and on application of the Legisla- 
ture, or of the Executive (when the Legislature can not be con- 
vened), against domestic violence. 

ARTICLE V. 

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it 
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the 
application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, 
shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either 
case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Con- 
stitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the 
several States, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one 
or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress ; 
provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year 
one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect 
the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article ; 
and that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal 
suffrage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI. 

All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the 
adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid against the United 
States under this Constitution as under the Confcjiieration. 

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall 
be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall 
be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the 
supreme law of the land ; and the judges in every State shall be 
bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to 
the contrary notwithstanding. 

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the 
members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and 



APPENDIX. 577 

judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States, 
shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution ; 
but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any 
office or public trust under the United States. 

ARTICLE VII. 

The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be suf- 
ficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the States 
so ratifying the same. 

Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States 
present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty- seven, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the twelfth, 
fin fflj^itness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names. 
[Signed by] Go : Washington, 

Presidt. and Deputy from Virginia, 
and hy thirty-nine delegates. 



AETICLES 

IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, 

THE COXSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



ARTICLE I. 
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of re- 
ligion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the 
freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peace- 
ably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of 
grievances. 

ARTICLE 11. 
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free 
state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be 
infringed. 

ARTICLE III. 
No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, 
without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a man- 
ner to be prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, 
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall 
not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, 
supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the 
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

ARTICLE V. 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise in- 
famous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, 
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, 

578 



APPENDIX. 579 

when in actual service in time of war or public danger ; nor shall 
any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy 
of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a 
witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, 
without due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for 
public use without just compensation. 

ARTICLE VI. 
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to 
a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and dis- 
trict wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district 
shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of 
the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the 
witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining 
witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his 
defence. 

ARTICLE VII. 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall 
exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, 
and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any 
court of the United States, than according to the rules of the com- 
mon law. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

ARTICLE IX. 
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not 
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

ARTICLE X. 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitu- 
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States 
respectively, or to the people. 

ARTICLE XI. 
The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed 
to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted 
against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by 
citizens or subjects of any foreign state, 



580 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

ARTICLE XII. 
The Electors shall meet in their respective States, arwi vote by 
ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, 
shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves ; they 
shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in 
distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President ; and they 
shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of 
all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes 
for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed 
to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the 
President of the Senate ;— the President of the Senate shall, in the 
presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the 
certificates, and the votes shall then be counted ; — the person having 
the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if 
such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors ap- 
pointed ; and if no person have such majority, then from the per- 
sons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of 
those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall 
choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the 
President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from 
each State having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist 
of a member or members from two thirds of the States, and a 
majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the 
House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the 
right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of 
March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, 
as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the 
President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice- 
President shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority 
of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a 
majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list the Senate 
shall choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shall 
consist of two thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a ma- 
jority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no 
person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be 
eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. 

ARTICLE XIII. 
Sect. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a 
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly con- 



APPENDIX. 581 

victed, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to 
their jurisdiction. 

Sect. 3. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XIV. 

Sect. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, 
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United 
States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make 
or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities 
of citizens of the United States ; nor shall any State deprive any 
person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor 
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of 
the laws. 

Sect. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the sev- 
eral States according to their respective numbers, counting the 
whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not 
taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of 
Electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, 
Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a 
State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any 
of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age 
and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except 
for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representa- 
tion therein shall be reduced in Ihe proportion which the number 
of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citi- 
zens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Sect. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in 
Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any 
office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any 
State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Con- 
gress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any 
State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, 
to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged 
in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or com- 
fort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two 
thirds of each House, remove such disability. 

Sect. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, 
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions 
and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, 



582 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 

shall not be questioned. But neither the United States, nor any 
State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of 
insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for 
the loss or emancipation of any slave ; but all such debts, obliga- 
tions,^ and claims shall be held illegal and void. 

Sect. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appro- 
priate legislation, the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XV. 

Sect. 1. The right of citizens of the United State to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation. 



96 Green 92 wich 




INDEX. 



Abercrombie, General, 146. 

Abolitionists, 334, 342, 347; perse- 
cuted, 343. 

Adams, Charles F., 374, 456. 

Adams, John, quoted, 159, 188; de- 
fends British soldiers, 183; peace 
commissioner, 212, 213; Vice-Presi- 
dent, 234; President, 252-259; char- 
acter, 252; portrait, 253. 

Adams, John Q., Secretary of State, 
296; elected President, 310; admin- 
istration, 311-321; portrait, 311; 
character, 311; opposed to gag 
rule, 344. 

Adams, Samuel, portrait, 152; in the 
town meeting, 183; favors war, 187. 

Agriculture, Department of, 514, 544. 

Aguinaldo, 538. 

Alabama admitted, 298; joins Con- 
federacy, 420; readmitted, 478. 

Alabama claims, 457, 485. 

Alabama, the, 456. 

Alaska purchased, 478; 537 note; 
boundary of, 541. 

Alexander VI, bull of, 24. 

Alien law, 256, 

Amendments, first ten, 231; the 
eleventh, 250; the twelfth, 258; the 
thirteenth, 468, 473; the fourteenth, 
474, 475, 478; the fifteenth, 483. 

America, origin of man in, 1; discov- 
ery of, by Columbus, 16; naming of, 
21. 

American colonies, 534, 535; policy 
toward, 537, 538; conditions in, 538. 

American people, condition of, in 1765, 
151-168; in 1830, 332-338; from 
1900-1905, 545-557. See also In- 
dustrial Conditions. 

Amherst, General Jeffrey, 147. 

Anarcliist riot, 513. 



Anderson, Major, 413, 419. 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 95, 103, 106. 

Annapolis convention, 224. 

Annexation of Louisiana, 262-265; of 
Florifla, 302; of Texas, 356; of Ore- 
gon, 360; of California and the 
West, 368; Gadsden purchase, 369: 
of Alaska, 479; of the Philippines, 
534, 537; of Porto Rico, 534; of 
Hawaii, 535. 

Antietam, battle of, 439. 

Appomattox, surrender of Lee at, 465. 

Arbitration (see Alabama Claims, Seal 
Fisheries); of Venezuelan dispute, 
526; treaty, 527; of coal strike 
differences, 541; of Alaskan bound- 
ary dispute, 541. 

Aristotle quoted, 13. 

Arkansas admitted, 336; secedes, 420; 
readmitted, 478. 

Arnold, Benedict, attacks Quebec, 
195; treason, 209. 

Art in America, 554, 555; 

Arthur, Chester A., elected Vice- 
President, 504; becomes President, 
507; character, 507. 

Articles of Confederation. See Con- 
federation. 

Ashburton treaty, the, 351. 

Asia, desire to reach, 18. 

Association, the, 186. 

Assumption of State debts, 240, 241. 

Atlanta, capture of, 458. 

Azores, the, 24. 

Bacon's rebellion, 52. 
Balboa, 23. 
Ballot reform, 519. 
Baltimore, Lord, 55; founds Mary- 
land, 58. 
Bancroft, George, 333, 359. 



583 



i- 



684 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Bank, the first, 241; the second, 293, 
302: new charter vetoed, 329; re- 
moval of deposits, 331; National 
Bank Act, 449, 450. 

Barclay, Commodore, 286. 

Barnburners, the, 373, 374. 

Belknap, W. W., 490. 

Bell, John, nominated for President, 
409. 

Belligerency of Confederacy, 425. 

Bennington, battle of, 202. 

Benton, Thomas H., quoted, 301, 364; 
offers expunging resolution, 331. 

Berkeley, Lord John, 105. 

Berkeley, Sir William, 51; quoted, 53. 

Bills of Rights, 197. 

Birney, James G., 347, 355. 

Black, Jeremiah S., 399, 413. 

Blaine, J. G., nominated for presi- 
dency, 509. 

Blair, Francis P., Jr., nominated for 
vice-presidency, 480. 

Boone, Daniel, 207. 

Booth, J. W., 469. 

Boston, founded, 80; evacuated by 
British, 194; maps, 193, 194. 

Boston massacre, the, 182, 189. 

Boston Tea Party, the, 184. 

Boundary of the United States, 213, 
214, 351, 487, 541. See also An- 
nexation. 

Braddock's defeat, 142. 

Bradford, William, quoted, 71-75; liis 
manuscript history, 73. 

Bradley, J. P., 497. 

Bragg, General, 433, 434, 447, 448. 

Brandywine, battle of, 203. 

Breckenridge, John C, elected Vice- 
President, 397; nominated for Presi- 
dent, 409. 

Bristow, B. H., 490. 

Brown, B. G., nominated for vice- 
presidency, 488. 

Brown, General J., 288. 

Brown, John, raid of, 407; his fort, 
408. 

Bryan, WiUiam J., 528, 538, 542. 

Buchanan, James, Secretary of State, 
359; minister to England, 387; 
elected President, 396, 397; portrait, 
398; character, 398; administration, 
398-416; message, 412; the South- 
ern forts, 413. 



Buckner, Simon B., 528. 

Buell, General, 426, 430, 432 

Buena Vista, battle of, 366. 

Bull of demarcation, 24. 

Bull Run. battle of, 423. 

Bunker Hill, battle of, 193. 

Burgoyne, General John, surrenders, 
202. 

Burke, Edmund, quoted, 119, 158, 167 
181; 187. 

Burnside, General, 439. 

Burr, Aaron, elected Vice-President, 
258; duel with Hamilton, 268; con- 
spiracy, 269. 

Butler, William O., 373. 

Cabinet, the first, 235, 237, 238; 
nature of, 237; changes in, 250, 541. 

Cabot, John, 19. 

Cabot, Sebastian, 19. 

Calhoun, John C, enters Congress, 
279; Secretary of War, 296; princi- 
ples, 294, 325, 380, 415; portrait, 
326; resigns vice-presidency, 328; 
quoted, 363; position on slavery, 
372, 379. 

California, desire to obtain, 362; con- 
quered, 367; annexed, 368; gold 
discovered, 376; admitted, 377-381. 

Calvert, Cecilius, 55. 

Calvert, George (see Baltimore), 55. 

Camden, battle of, 209. 

Cameron, Simon, 418, 429. 

Canada. See New France. 

Cape Verde Islands, 24. 

Carolinas, the, early history, 61-66; 
charter, 62; map of grant, 62; be- 
ginning of North Carolina, 63; be- 
ginning of South Carolina, 63; 
Locke's "Grand Model," 63; be- 
come royal colonies, 124. See also 
North Carolina and South Carolina. 

Caroline affair, the, 350, 351. 

Carpet-bag government, 478, 484. 

Carteret, Sir George, 105, 

Carteret, Philip, 105. 

Cartier, Jacques, 29. 

Cass, Lewis, 325; writes Nicholson 
letter, 372; nominated for President. 
373; Secretary of State, 398; re- 
signs, 413. 

Cavaliers, immigration of, 49, 50. 

Cedar Creek, battle of. 455 



INDKX. 



585 



Centennial Exposition, the, 493, 498. 

Cerro Gordo, battle of, 3G7. 

Cervera, Admiral, 533. 

Champlain, Samuel de, 130. 

Chancellors ville, battle of, 445. 

Chapultepec, battle of, 367. 

Charles 1,49,61,75. 

Charles II, 52, 62, 94. 

Charleston founded, 63; attacked by 
British, 195; convention at, 410; 
map, 419. 

Charleston Mercury, 411. 

Chase, Salmon P., 386; Secretary of 
Treasury, 418, 419; resigns, 460, 
461; portrait, 461; presides at im- 
peachment trial, 477. 

Chatham. See Pitt, William. 

Chattanooga, battle of, 447, 448. 

Chesapeake, the affair of the, 273. 

Chicago. 283, 336, 548, 555. 

Chickamauga, battle of, 447. 

Chili, trouble with, 518. 

Chinese, exclusion of, 508. 

Chippewa, battle of, 288. 

Christ Church, Boston, view of, 128. 

Cincinnati in 1810, 298. 

Cities, growth of, 548. See also In- 
dustrial Conditions. 

Civil Rights bill, 474, 

Civil-service reform, 488, 507. 

Civil war, causes, 409-416; progress, 
419-465; losses, 467; effects, 483. 

Claiborne, William, 58. 

Clark, George Rogers, services, 206, 
207. 

Clay, Henry, as speaker, 279, 280; and 
the Missouri compromise, 3t)6; por- 
trait, 309; candidate for President, 
310; Secretary of State, 310; char- 
acter, 330; candidate for presi- 
dency, 330, 354, 355; in 1840, 346; 
offers compromise of 1850, 378; 
death, 385. 

Cleveland, Grover, elected President, 
509; life and character, 510; por- 
trait, 511; first administration. 510- 
514; renominated, 513; renominated 
and elected, 519; second adminis- 
tration, 520-527; Hawaiian policy, 
521; Venezuelan message. 525. 

Clinton, De Witt. 285, 314. 

Clinton, George, Vice-President, 268, 
275. 

39 



Clinton, Sir Henry, 195, 206. 
Cobb, Howell, 398, 413. 
Cochrane, John, 461. 
Cold Harbor, battle of, 454, 
Colfax, Schuyler, elected Vice-Presi- 
dent, 480. 
Colonies. See English Colonies, Eng- 
lish Colonization, French Coloniza ■ 
tion, etc. 
Columbus, Christopher, early life, 11; 
first voyage, 16; discovers America, 
16; other discoveries, 18; portrait 
of, 11; house in which he died, 27. 
Commerce with the East, 7. 
Committees of Correspondence, 183. 
Compromise, in Constitutional Con- 
vention, 227, 228; Missouri, 305; 
of 1833, 328; of 1850, 378-382; the 
Crittenden, 414. 
Confederacy, Southern, formed, 414. 
415; belligerency acknowledged, 
425; difficulty in supporting war, 
466. 
I Confederation, Articles of, proposed, 
I 205, 215; ratified, 216; character of, 
I 216; trouble during, 218-220, 223. 
Confederation, New England, 91. 
Congress, the Albany, 139. See also 
I Continental Congress. 
Conkling, Roscoe, 506. 
Connecticut, 87-89; Fundamental Or- 
I ders of, 88; charter, 92; in confedera- 
I tion, 91; in eighteenth century, 120. 
Constitution framed, 224-228; charac- 
ter of, 228, 229, 232; ratified, 230, 
231; broad and strict construction, 
242. 
Constitution, the, battle of, with the 

Guerriere, 284; cut of, 284, 
Constitutions, first State. 196, 197. 
Continental Congress, the First, 185; 
its declarations, 186; Articles of As- 
sociation, 186. 
Continental Congress the Second, 
meets, 192; incompetency, 205; pow 
ersof 215. 216. 
Convention, the Federal, meeting of, 
224; membership, 224; work of, 225- 
228. 
Cornwallis, General, 200; baffled by 
Washington, 200; in the South, 208- 
211; baffled by Lafayette, 210; sur- 
renders, 211. 



586 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Coronado 23. 

Cortez, Hernando, 23. 

Cotton, 300, 404, 426. 

Cotton gin, 300, 

Court, Federal, established, 239; sec- 
ond judiciary act, 2G5; judges im- 
peached, 265, 266. 

Court, General. See Fundamental 
Orders. 

Courtesies of the Senate, 506. 

Crandall, Prudence, 343. 

Crawford, WiUiam H., 296. 310. 

Credit MobiUer, 490. 

Crown Point, attacked by English, 
143; taken by Americans, 192. 

Cuba, desire to obtain, 387, 412; rebel- 
lion in, 525, 529; United States de- 
clares independence of, 531, 532; 
\far in, 533 ; under control of the 
United States, 534, 538; complete 
independence of, 538. 

Cumberland road, 294. 

Currency, 292, 449, 450, 467, 492, 520, 
527; demonetization of sUver, 501; 
Bland-Allison Bill, 501; the silver 
question, 510, 517, 522, 527, 528; 
the Sherman Act, 517, 522. 

Dale, Sir Thomas, 42. 

Dallas, George M., Vice-President, 
354. 

Davis, Henry G., 542. 

Davis, Jefferson, 386; Confederate 
President, 415; portrait, 415. 

Davis, John, 31. 

Dayton, William L., 397. 

Dearborn, General, 287. 

Debt, national, 240, 467, 481 : State, as- 
sumption of, 240, 241. 

Delaware, Lord, 42. 

Delaware, early history, 101, 113. 

Democracy, 334-336, 554. Demo- 
cratic party, divided, 409; attitude 
toward the war, 429. See also 
Party. 

Department of Commerce and I^al)or 
established, 541. 

De Soto, 23. 
' Detroit, surrender of, 283. 

Development of the United States, 
545-557. 

Dewey, Commodore, 532. 

Dickinson, John, 181; portrait of, 180. 



Discovery, Spanish, 23. 

Dixon, Archibald, 388. 

Donelson, Andrew J., 397. 

Donelson, Fort, 430, 431. 

Dorr rebellion, the, 352. 

Douglas, Stephen A., supports Kansas^ 
Nebraska bill, 388, 391; debate witb 
Lincoln, 402; nominated for Presi- 
dent, 409. 

Draft, the, 451; riots, 451. 

Drake, Sir Francis, voyages of, 31, 

Dred Scott case, 399. 

Duquesne, Fort, 142, 147. 

Dutch, the, settle in America, 97; lose 
New Netherland, 102; character of, 
97 104. 

Earle, Thomas, 347. 

Early, General, 455. 

East, the, books on, 8. 

Education, in colonies, 54, 83, 156. 
159, 161, 333; in the United States, 
333, 551. 

Eighteenth century, character of, 118, 
127; history of, 116-125. 

El Caney, battle of, 533. 

Election of 1789, 233; 1792, 245; 1796. 
252; 1800, 258; 1804, 268; 1808. 
275; 1812, 285; 1816, 294; 1820, 307; 
1824, 310; 1828, 319, 320; 1832, 329, 
330; 1836, 338; 1840, 345-348; 1844, 
354-356; 1848, 373, 374; 1852, 385; 
1856, 396; 1860, 409; 1864, 460-462; 
1868, 480; 1872, 487, 488; 1 876, 494- 
497; 1880, 504, 505; 1884,509; 1888, 
514; 1892, 519; 1896. 527, 528; 1900, 
538; 1904,542; 1908,543. 

Electoral Commission, th9, 496. 

Ellsworth, Oliver, 224, 239. 

Emancipation proclamation, facsimile 
of, 442; issued. 443; results, 444. 

Embargo, 274. 

Endicott, John.78. 

England, in sixteenth century, 28; 
hatred of Spain, 30; claims in eight- 
eenth century, 116, 125; wars with 
France, 117. 129-150, 271; war with 
Spain. 127; claims the West, 140; 
condition of, 143; trouble with, 
246-248; at war with France, 246; 
War of 1812, 281-291; treaty with, 
see Treaties; acknowledges bel- 
ligerency of South, 425; and the 



INDEX. 



587 



Trent affair, 429; Alabama trouble, 
see Alabama Claims; Venezuela 
question, 525. 

English colonies, political character, 
118; in eighteenth century, 110-128; 
conditions, 151-108; schools, 150; 
local government, 103-105; forms 
of government, 100. 

English colonization, motives for, 32, 
34; character of, 130, 145. 

English, W. H., nominated for vice- 
presidency, 504. 

Era of good feeling, 297, 310. 

Ericson, Leif, 4. 

Erie Canal, 314. 

Erskine treaty, 270. 

Essex, cruise of, 290. 

Everett, Edward, quoted, 387; nomi- 
nated for Vice-President, 409. 

Expansion, policy of, 535, 537. 

Expunging resolution, 331. 

Fairbanks, Charles W., 542. 

Fair Oaks, battle of, 430. 

Farragut, David G., 435, 430. 

Federalist, the, 231. 

Federalist party, 255 (see also Party); 

downfall, 257. 
Fessenden, William P., 401. 
Field, James G., 520. 
Fillmore, Millard, elected Vice-Presi- 
dent, 374; President. 382-380; char- 
acter, 382; nominated for President, 
397. 
Financial questions. See Currency, 

Banks, Debt. 
Fisheries, the, 480. 
Five Nations, the. See Iroquois. 
Florida, annexed, 302; admitted, 370; 
joins Confederacy, 420; readmitted, 
478; election of 1870 in, 495. 
Florida, West, Spanish claim to, 214, 

264; seized, 204. 
Floyd, John B., 398, 413. 
Foote, Commodore, 430, 432 
Force bills, 485. 
Fox, Charles J., 187. 
Fox, George, 108, 109. 
France, in sixteenth century, 28; wars 
with England, 117, 129-150, 271; 
colonization, 130; claims Mississippi 
Valley, 140; in eighteenth century, 
144; alUance with, 204; sends Genet 



to America, 247; difficulties with, 
253-255, 273, 270. See also New 
France. 
Franklin, Benjamin, his plan of Union, 
139; portrait, 102; birthplace, 102; 
in France, 204; peace commissioner, 
212; in Philadelphia convention, 
224. 
Frederick. King, 143. 
Fredericksburg, battle of, 439, 440. 
Free-soil party. See Party. 
Frelinghuysen, Theodore, 355. 
Fremont, John C, nominated for 

President, 397, 401. 
French and Indian War, 142-150; im- 
portant results of, 148, 150. 
French colonization, failure of, in 
South, 29; success of, in North, 
29; beginnings, 130; character, 136. 
French decrees, 273, 277. 
French explorers, 133. 
Friends. See Quakers. 
Frobisher, Martin, 31. 
Fugitive slave law, 381; violated, 393, 

400. 
Fundamental Orders. See Con- 
necticut. 



Gadsden purchase, the, 309. 

Gage, General, 192. 

Gallatin, Albert, Secretary of the 

Treasury, 201, 
Garfield, James A., mentioned, 430; 
elected President, 504; administra- 
tion, 505-508; life and character, 
505; assassinated, 507. 
Garrison, William L., 342. 
Gaspee, the, destroyed, 183. 
Gates, General Horatio, 203; defeated 

at Camden, 208. 
Genet, Citizen, 247. 
Geneva award, the, 480. 
Geography, early knowledge of, 12. 
George, Fort, 287. 

Georgia, settlement of, 125-127; atti- 
tude of, before the Revolution, 185. 
George III, purposes of, 171, 184, 186 
note, 188; hires mercenaries, 193,; 
loses America, 211. 
German town, battle of, 203. 
Gerry, Elbridge, Commissioner, 254: 

Vice-President, 285. 
Gettysburg, battle of, 445. 



688 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Gilbert, Sir Humphrey. 32, 535. 

Gorges, Ferdinando, 89; grant to, 90. 

Graham, William A., 385. 

Granger, Francis, 338. 

Grant, Ulysses S., quoted, 367, 459; in 
civil war, 427, 430, 432, 434, 446, 
452-455, 464, 465; elected President 
480; administration, 481-498; life 
and character, 481; portrait, 482; 
re-elected, 488. 

Greeley, Horace, quoted, 424; nomi- 
nated for presidency, 488. 

Greenback party, the, 494. 

Greenbacks, issued, 449; specie pay- 
ment, 493, 504. 

Greene, General Nathanael, in the 
South. 210; portrait, 210. 

Greenville, treaty of, 249. 

Grenville, George, 175. 

Gresham. Walter Q., 521. 

Guilford, battle of, 210. 

Gustavus Adolphus, 101. 

Hale, John P., 385. 

" Half-breeds," the, 506. 

Halifax award, the, 487. 

Halleck, General, 426, 427, 430, 433, 
437. 

Hamilton, Alexander, quoted, 223; in 
Annapolis convention, 224; in 
Philadelphia convention, 225; in 
New York convention, 230; writes 
Federalist articles, 230; Secretary of 
the Treasury, 235-250; financial 
plans, 240-242; portrait, 240; 
character, 268. 

Hamilton, Andrew, 121. 

Hamlin, Hannibal, elected Vice-Presi- 
dent, 409, 410; mentioned, 462. 

Hampton Roads, battle of, 434, 435. 

Hancock, General W. S., nominated 
for presidency, 504. 

Harper's Ferry, seized by Brown, 408; 
captured, 439. 

Harrison, Benjamin, elected President, 
514; administration, 515-520; por- 
trait, 515; renominated, 519. 

Harrison, William H., at battle of Tip- 
pecanoe, 279; at the Thames, 286; 
nominated for presidency, 338, 346; 
elected, 348; administration, 348, 
349; death, 349. 

Hartford convention, 291. 



Harvard College founded, 84. 

Harvey, Sir John, expulsion of, 49. 

Hawaiian Islands, revolution in, 521; 
annexed, 535; map of, 534. 

Hawkins, John, 31. 

Hay, John, 539. 

Hayes, R. B., nominated for presi- 
dency, 494; elected, 497; life and 
character, 499; portrait, 499; ad- 
ministration, 499-505; vetoes 
Bland-Allison Bill, 501; opposed to 
riders, 503. 

Hendricks, T. A., nominated for vice- 
pi-esidency. 494. 

Henry, Fort, 430, 432. 

Henry, Patrick, portrait of. 170; 
speech in parson's cause, 174; reso- 
lutions, 177. 

Herjulfsson, Bjarni, 4. 

Herkimer, General Nicholas, 203. 

Historical writing, 551. 

Hobart, Garret A., elected Vice-Presi- 
dent, 527. 

Hobson, Lieutenant. 533. 

Holland in seventeenth century. 97. 

Holmes. O W., 553. 

Holy Alliance, the, 307. 

Hood, General. 458, 460 

Hooker, General, 445, 448. 

Hooker, Thomas, 87. 

Houston, Samuel, 354. 

Howe, General, 194, 198, 200; failure. 
199; proceeds to Philadelphia. 203; 
succeeded by Clinton, 206. 

Howe, Richard, offers pardon, 198 

Hudson, Henry, 97. 

Hull. Commodore Isaac. 284. 

Hull, General William, 283. 

Hutchinson, Anne, banished, 86. 

Idaho admitted, 514. ■ 
Illinois admitted, 298. 
Immigration, 299, 547, 548. 
Impeachment, of judges, 266; of Presi« 

dent, 477; of Secretary of War, 491. 
" Imperialism," policy of, 537. 
Implied powers, 242. 
Impressment, 272, 281. 
Income tax, 525. 
Indented servants, 44, 153. 
Independence, Declaration of, 186 

note, 195-197; original draft, opp. 

196. 



INDEX. 



589 



Independence Hall, view of, 215. 

Independent Treasury, 341. 

Indiana admitted, 298. 

Indians, the, groups of, 3; the five 
nations, 4; at Plymouth, 74; the Pe- 
quot War, 88; King Philip's War, 
93; hostile 248; defeated, 249; in 
War of 1812, 278, 286; in Georgia, 
318; removed to reservations, 318 
note; Seminole War, 345. 

Industrial conditions, 151-156, 158, 
161 , 219, 271 , 274, 301 , 331 , 333, 336, 
340, 383, 384, 403-407, 420, 448 
451, 481, 492, 493, 522, 524; rail- 
roads, 315-317; strikes, 502, 524, 
541; labor organizations, 512; 
changes of a century, 545-557. See 
also West, The. 

Ingersoll, Jared, 285. 

Intercolonial wars, 117. 

Internal improvements, 294, 314, 337. 

Interstate Commerce Act, 512. 

Intolerable acts, the five, 184. 

Intolerance, in Massachusetts, 84, 86, 
91; in England, 70. 

Inventions, 270, 333, 353, 383. 

Iowa admitted, 376. 

Iroquois, character, 4; friends of the 
Dutch, 100; foes of the French, 
131; map of country, 132; defeated, 
206. See also Indians. 

Irrigation, 541. 

Italy, trouble with, 518. 

Jackson, Andrew, defeats Indians, 
287; at New Orleans, 291; candi- 
date for President, 310; elected 
President, 320; portrait, 322; char- 
acter, 322; President, 322-339; proc- 
lamation, 328j vetoes Bank Bill, 
329; withdraws deposits, 330. 

Jackson, British minister, 276. 

Jackson, Thomas J., 436, 438; por- 
trait, 439. 

Jacksonian era, characteristics. 334. 

James I, 36, 48, 75. 

James II. 94, 96, 102, 103. 

Jamestown, Va., .-settlement of, 38; 
early history, 39-41. 

Jay, John, peace commissioner, 212, 
213; 223; writes in the Federalist. 
230; portrait, 234; chief justice 
239; envoy, 249: hi.g treaty, 250. 



Jefferson, Thomas, quoted, 154, 260; 
drafts Declaration of Independence, 
196; peace commissioner, 212; sub- 
mits ordinance of 1784, 221; Secre- 
tary of State, 235, 242, 250; Vice- 
President, 252; elected President, 
258, 268; presidency, 260-275; char- 
acter and principles, 260; portrait, 
260; buys Louisiana, 262-265; em- 
bargo policy, 274. 

Johnson, Andrew, elected Vice-Presi- 
dent. 462; President, 470; character, 
470; administration, 469-481; im- 
peachment of, 477; plans of recon- 
struction, 472. 

Johnson, Herschel V., 409, 

Johnson, Richard M., elected Vice- 
President, 338. 

Johnston, General A. S., 430; portrait, 
4.30; killed, 433. 

Johnston, General J.E.,423, 430, 43/, 
4.5S, 464, 465; portrait, 424. 

Joliet, his map, 134; on the Missis- 
sippi, 135. 

Jones, John Paul, 207. 

Judiciary act, 265. 

Julian, George W., 385. 

Kansas, struggle in. 393-395, 401. 

Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 389. 

Kearny, General, 366. 

Kearsarge, the, fight with the Ala- 
bama, 457. 

Kenesaw Mountain, battle of, 458. 

Kenton, Simon, 207. 

Kentucky, part of Virginia, 206; set- 
tlers in, 217; admitted, 250; resolu- 
tions, 256; does not join Confeder- 
acy. 427. 

King. Rufus, 225, 226, 268, 275. 

King. William R., elected Vice-Presi- 
dent, 385. 

King George's War, 139. 

King William's War. 138. 

King's Mountain, battle of, 209. 

Know-Nothing party. 392. 

Knox. Henry, 237; portrait, 238. 

Ku-KIux-Klan, 484. 

Labor. See Industrial Conditions. 
Labor organizations. 512. 
Ladrone Islands, 534. 
Lafayette, Marquis de, 204, 210. 



590 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



La Hontan's Map, 137. 

Lake Champlain, battle of, 288. 

Lake Erie, battle of, 286. 

Lane, Joseph, 409. 

La Salle, Robert de, 135. 

Las Casas, mentioned, 16. 

Laud, William, 75, 84. 

Laurens, Henry, 212. 

Lawrence, Captain, 287. 

Lecompton, Constitution, 402. 

Lee, General Charles, treachery of, 
206. 

Lee, Richard Henry, 195. 

Lee, Robert E., 437, 439, 445. 452-454 , 
464 465; portrait, 437, 

Legal Tender Act, 449. 

Leisler, Jacob, 103. 

Lenox globe, 22. 

Lewis and Clark, expedition of, 
270. 

Lexington, battle of, 190. 

Lincoln, Abraham, debates with 
Douglas, 402; elected President, 
409, 410; administration, 417, 468; 
life and character. 417; portrait, 
417; first acts against .secession, 428; 
attitude toward emancipation, 441; 
issues proclamation, 442; renomi- 
nated and elected, 460-463; assassi- 
nation, 469. 

Lincoln, General Benjamin, 208. 

Literature, American, 332, 553, 554. 

Livingston, Edward, 325. 

Livingston, Robert R., 262. 

Locke, John, 63. 

Loco-foco party, 346. 

Logan, John A., nominated for vice- 
presidency, 509. 

London Company, 36; grant under 
charter of 1609, 40, 41 ; map of grant, 
41; general courts, 45; loss of char- 
ter, 48. 

Long Island, battle of, 199. 

Lookout Mountain, battle of, 448. 

Loudon, General, 146. 

Louisiana, purchase of, 261-264; State 
admitted, 297; State joins Confed- 
eracy, 420; readmitted 478; elec- 
tion of 1876 in, 495. 

Lovejoy, Elijah P., 343. 

Lowell, James R., quoted, 365, 410; 
553. 

Lundy's Lane, battle of, 288. 



Macdonough, Commodore, 288. 

Macon Bill No. 2, 277. 

Madison, James, 223; in Philadelphia 
convention, 224, 225; quoted, 218, 
230; writes in the Federalist, 230; 
opposes the bank bill, 241; writes 
the Virginia resolutions, 256; Secre- 
tary of State, 261 ; elected President, 
275; administration, 275-295; char- 
acter, 276; portrait, 276. 

Magellan, Ferdinand, voyage of, 21. 

Maine founded, 89; part of Massachu- 
setts, 90, 96; admitted, 298. 

Maine, the destruction of the, 530; 
picture of the, 531. 

Mandeville, Sir John, Voyage and 
Travels of, 8. 

Manifest destiny, 363, 387. 

Manila, 533. 

Manufactures, 548-550. See also In- 
dustrial Conditions. 

Marbury vs. Madison, 265. 

Marcy, W. L., quoted, 324; Secretary 
of War, 359. 

Marietta, Ga., battle near, 458. 

Marietta, Ohio, founded, 248; picture, 
248, 321. 

Marquette, 134, 135. 

Marshall, John, commissioner, 253; 
chief justice, 266; portrait, 266. 

Maryland, early history, 54-61 ; 
charter, 55; map of grant, 56; Toler- 
ation Act, 59; does not join the Con- 
federacy, 420, 421. 

Mason, George, 227, 303; home of, 155. 

Mason, John, 89; grant to, 90. 

Mason, John Y., 387. 

Mason and DLxon's line, 56. 

Massachusetts Bay, Company of, 78; 
the charter of, 78. See also Massa- 
chusetts. 

Massachusetts, settlement, 76; charac- 
ter of settlers, 77; the land grant, 
78; intolerance, 86, 91; representa- 
tive government in, 82; towns, 83; 
in confederation, 91; under Andros, 
94; given new charter, 96; extent 
of, 96; in eighteenth century, 119; 
insurrection in, 223. 

Maximilian, Archduke, 479. 

Mayflower compact, the, 72. 

McClellan, 424, 436-439; portrait^ 
425; nominated for presidency, 462. 



INDEX. 



591 



McDowell, General, 424. 
McKinley, William, his tariff measure, 
517; elected President, 527; life 
528; portrait, 529; message on Cuba, 
531; re-elected President, 538; as- 
sassination and death, 539. 
Meade, General, 445; portrait, 444. 
Mercator, map of, 24, 25. 
Merrimac and Monitor, 434. 
Merrimac at Santiago, 533. 
Merritt, General, 533. 
Mexico, people of, 2; conquest of, 23; 
trouble with Texas, 354; war with, 
364-368; Maximilian in, 479. 
Michigan in hands of British, 283; ad- 
mitted, 336. 
Military situation in civil war, 421, 422, 
424, 427; in 1862, 430, 432, 440, 445; 
in 1863, 453; in 1864, 452, 453, 457. 
Mill Spring, battle of, 430. 
Missionary Ridge, battle of, 448. 
Mississippi admitted, 298; joins Con- 
federacy, 420. 
Missouri, admitted, 298; does not join 

Confederacy, 426. 
Missouri compromise, 305-307; map, 
305; repealed, 388, 389; declared 
unconstitutional, 399. 
Mobile, capture of, 456. 
Monitor, 434. 
Monmouth, battle of, 206. 
Monroe doctrine, the, 308, 479, 526, 

540. 
Monroe, James, minister to France, 
253; treaty with England, 274; Sec- 
retary of State, 276; elected Presi- 
dent, 295, 307; administration, 296- 
311; portrait, 296; message of 1823, 
308. 
Biontana, 514. 

Montcalm, Marquis de, 145-148. 
Montgomery, Richard, 195. 
Moore's Creek, battle of, 195. 
Mormons, the, 550. 

Morris, Gouverneur, in Philadelphia 
convention, 224, 225; portrait, 225; 
qxxoted, 237. 
Morris, Robert, services of, 201; por- 
trait, 201; Superintendent of Fin- 
ance, quoted, 217. 
Morris, Thomas, 355. 
Morristown, suffering at, 207. 
Morse, Samuel F. B., 353. 



Morton, Levi P., elected Vice-Presi- 
dent, 514. 
Motley, J. L., 553. 

Mound builders in North America, 3. 
Murfreesborough, battle of, 434. 

Napoleon, 271, 275; issues decrees, 
274; withdraws them, 277; con- 
fiscates vessels, 277; helps bring on 
war, 277, 278. 
Nashville, battle of, 460. 
National Bank. See Bank. 
Naturalization Act, 256. 
Naval battles in War of 1812, 284, 287 
288, 290. 

Navigation laws, the, 52, 172. 

New England, map of, by John Smith, 
68; confederation, 91; map of, 93; 
early history, 67-97; character of 
settlers, 77; in eighteenth century, 
119, 120; condition of life, 156-160; 
education, 159; towns, 157; indus- 
tries, 158; religion, 159; conspiracy, 
267. 

New France, founded, 135; early his- 
tory, 130-150; condition, 145; fall 
of, 148. 

New Hampshire founded, 89. See also 
New England. 

New Haven, 87. 

New Jersey, early history, 104-107; 
map of, 106; founded, 105; the 
"Concessions," 105; divided, 105; 
character, 106, 161; education in, 
161. 

New Netherlands, 98 (see New York); 
map of, 99. 

New Orleans, founded, 135; battle of, 
291; capture of, 435. 

New Sweden, 101. 

New York, early history, 97-104; the 
patroons, 100; taken by the Eng- 
lish, 102; local government, 102, 
165; character, 104; in eighteenth 
century, 120, 121; condition, 160- 
163; education in, 161; picture, 161; 
the British attack, 198; map of, 198, 
548. 

Niagara, 140, 143, 147. 

Nicollet, Jean, 133. 

Nominating convention, the first, 330. 
See also Elections. 

Non-intercourse, 275-278. 



592 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



Norse ship, picture of. 5. 

North Carolina, joins Confederacy, 

420; readmitted, 478. See also 

Carolinas. 
North Dakota, admitted, 514, 550. 
Northeastern boundary dispute, 351. 
Northmen, the, 4. 
Nullification, 328. See Virginia and 

Kentucky resolutions. 

Oglethorpe, James, founds Georgia, 

126. 
Ohio settled, 248, 249; admitted. 201, 

291. 
Olncy, Richard, 525. 
Orders in Council, 273, 281. 
Orilinance of 1784, 222; of 1787, 

222. 
Oregon, 360; in election of 1876. 496. 
Oriskany, battle of, 202. 
Ostcnd manifesto, 387. 
Otis, James, portrait of, 174; speech 

on writs of assistance. 174. 

Palmer, John M., 528. 

Palo Alto, battle of. 365. 

Panama Canal, 540, 544. 

Pan-American Congress, 515. 

Panic of 1819, 301; of 1837, 340; of 
1857, 403; of 1873, 492; of 1893. 
522. 

Parker, Alton B.. 542. 

Parkman, Francis, 553. 

Parties, the beginnings, 242-245. 

Party, the old Republican, 243; the 
Federalist, 243, 245, 257, 259; the 
National Republican, 312, 313; the 
Democratic, 312, 313; the Demo- 
cratic divided, 409; Anti-Masonic, 
330; the Whig, 330, 373, 385; Loco- 
foco,346; the Liberty, 347; the Free- 
soil, 374; the Republican, 391, 401; 
American or Know-Nothing, 392; 
Constitutional Union, 409; attitude 
toward slavery, 373, 401, 403, 409; 
Republicans and reconstruction, 
471-474, 477; differences in Repub- 
lican, 487, 506; The Liberal Repub- 
lican, 488; the Prohibition, 494; 
the Greenback, 494; Mugwumps, 
509. 

Patroons, 100. 

Patroon war, 352. 



Pemberton, General, 446. 

Pendleton, George H., 462. 

Peninsula campaign, 436. 

Penn, William, purchases West Jer- 
sey, 105; early life, 109; portrait, 
110; acquires Pennsylvania, 110; 
founder of colony, 111; purposes, 
111; obtains Delaware. 113; makes 
peace with Indians, 114; house, 
115; death, 122. 

Pennsylvania, early history. 110 115; 
founded, 111; frame of government, 
112; a proprietary colony, 113; in 
eighteenth century, 122; derr.oc- 
racy in, IM, 162; education, 161; 
local government, 165. 

Pequot War, 88. 

Perry. Commodore. 286. 

Perryville, battle of, 433. 

Personal liberty laws, 400. 

Peru, people of, 2; conquest of. 23. 

Petersburg, 454. 

Philadelphia, 161; the British enter, 
203; evacuated. 206. 

Philadelphia convention. See Con- 
vention, Federal. 

Philip, King, war with. 93. 

PhiUppi, battle of, 422. 

Philippine Islands, battle in, 533; un- 
der control of the United States, 
534, 537. 538. 

Phips, Sir WilHam, 138. 

Pierce, Franklin, elected President, 
385; administration, 386-398. 

Pike, Zebulon M., 269. 

Pilgrims. See Plymouth. 

Pinckney, Charles C. minister to 
France, 253; candidate for Presi- 
dent, 268, 275. 

Pitt», William, 146. 187; quoted, 178. 

Pittsburg Landing. See Shiloh. 

Pizarros, 23. 

Plymouth Colony, 70, 75; motives for 
founding, 69-71; map of ''New 
England" by John Smith, 68; set- 
tlement. 72; the Mayflower com- 
pact, 72; first page of Bradford 
manviscript, 73; added to Massa- 
chusetts, 96. 

Plymouth Company, 36. 

Polk, James K., elected President 
354-358; administration, 360-375: 
character, 359; plans, 360. 



INDEX. 



593 



Polo, Marco, 8. 

Ponce de Leon, 23. 

Pope. General, 432, 438. 

Popham Colony. 67. 

Popular sovereignty, 372, 389-391, 
393. 

Population in the colonies, 153. 154. 
156. 160; in the Uniterl States, 282, 
383, 404. 493, 537; density of, 231, 
299, 337, 405, 491, 546; center of, 
547. 

Port Royal. 138. 

Portuguese, the explorations of, 9. 

Prescott, W. H., 553. 

Presidential succession, 511. 

Princeton, battle of, 200. 

Providence. See Rhode Island. 

P'ussia, 143. 

Ptolemy, Claudius, map of, 12. 

Porto Rico, occupation of, 533; an- 
nexed, 534; government in, 538. 

Puritans, the, 77. 

Quakers, persecuted in Massachusetts, 
91; in West Jersey, 105; origin of 
sect, 107-109; their beliefs, 108-110. 

Quebec, founded, 130; attacked by 
English, 138; map, 148; falls, 148; 
attacked liy Americans, 195. 

Queen Anne's War, 138. 

Queenstown, battle of, 283. 

Railroads, 315-317, 337, 492, 493. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, colonics of, 32, 
66. 

Randolph, Edmund, 237. 

Randolph,. John, quoted, 293, 312 note, 
319; portrait, 313. 

Reconstruction, legal difficulties, 471; 
Johnson's plans, 472; congressional 
method. 473, 477, 478; condition 
of South during. 478. 483-485, 489; 
a continuing problem, 482, 487, 
489; elections during, 497; troops 
withdrawn. 500. 

Rederaptioner, 153. 

Reed, Major, discovers cause of spread 
of yellow fever, 538. 

Reed.T B.t Speaker, 516. 

Reid, W hi tela w, 519. 

Religious liberty, in Maryland, 54-59; 
in the Carolinas, 65; in Pennsyl- 
vania, 114. 



Renaissance, the, 6. 

Representation, in England and in 
America, 169-171. 

Republican party. See Party. 

Resaca de la Palma, battle of, 365. 

Resumption of specie payments, 493, 
504. 

Revolution, the, causes of, 169-189; 
attitude toward, in England and 
America, 187; justice of, 188; be- 
ginning of, 190; significance of, 197; 
results of, 211, 214, 

Rhode Island, founded, 85, 87; char- 
ter, 92; in eighteenth century, 120; 
not in Federal convention, 224. 

Ribero, map of, 26. 

Rich Mountain, battle of, 422. 

Riders, 502. 

Right of discovery, 116. 

River Raisin, battle at the, 285. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, elected Vice- 
President, 538; succeeds to presi- 
dency, 539; 'administration, 539- 
542; offices held by, 539; as author, 
539; quoted, 539 note, 556 note; 
policy of, 540. 

Rosecrans, General, 447. 

Sagas, Icelandic, 5. 

St. Leger, Colonel Barry, 202, 203. 

Salary grab, 491. 

Sampson, Admiral. 533. 

Sandys, Sir Edwin, 45. 

San Juan Hill, battle of, 533. 

Santiago, blockade of, 533. 

Saratoga, surrender of Burgoyne at, 

202. 
Savannah taken by the British, 208. 
Saybrook, 87. 
Schools. See Education. 
Scott, Winfield, portrait, 367; in War 

of 1812, 287. 288; in Mexican War, 

367; nominated for President, 385; 

in civil war, 418, 424, 
Seal fisheries. 524. 
Secession. 326. 410, 415. 
Sedition law. 256. 
Seminole War, the second, 345. 
Separatists, the, 70. 
Seven days' battles, 437. 
Sewall. Arthur. 528. 
Seward, William H., portrait, 380; 

speech in 1850, 380; mentioned. 



594 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



386; quoted, 391, 403, 457; Secre- 
tary of State, 418; assaulted, 469. 

Seymour, Horatio, nominated for pres- 
idency, 480. 

Shafter, General, 533. 

Shays's rebellion, 218. 

Sheridan, General, 455; portrait, 455. 

Sherman Act, 517, 523. 

Sherman, General, 448, 458, 464, 465; 
march to the sea, 458; quoted, 452, 
459; portrait, 459. 

Sherman, Roger, 224. 

Shiloh, battle of, 433. 

Ship of fifteenth century, 9. 

Shipping, 158, 384. 

Silver. See Currency. 

Slavery, beginning of, 44; in Southern 
colonies, 153; prohibited in North- 
west, 222; discussion in Federal 
Convention, 227, 303; extension, 
300, 305, 371 , 376-378, 388, 403; the 
cotton gin, 300; the Missouri com- 
promise, 305-307, 388, 389; opposed 
by abolitionists, 343-345; the Wil- 
mot proviso, 368; popular sovereign- 
ty, 372; Calhoun's proposition, 373, 
380; in 1850, 378-382; in Kansas, 
395; Dred Scott case, 399; under- 
ground railroad, 400; personal lib- 
erty laws, 400; effects, 394, 404-407; 
John Brown's raid, 407; cause of 
the civil war, 416; abolishment of, 
441; emancipation, 442-444; thir- 
teenth amendment, 463, 464; cause 
of Southern defeat, 466, 467. 

Slave trade, 304. 

Smith, Captain John, 38; portrait of, 
39; explores New England, 67; map, 
68. 

Southampton, Earl of, 45. 

South Carolina, nullification in, 328; 
secedes, 410; readmitted, 478; con- 
dition during reconstruction, 484; 
election of 1876 in, 496. See also 
Carolinas. 
South Dakota, 514, 550. 
Southern colonies, condition of, 153- 

156. 
Soul^, Pierre, 387. 

Spain, dominion, 23, 116; claims in 
eighteenth century, 125; war with 
England, 127; diflaculties with, 217, 
223 ; treaty with, in 1819 (see 



Treaty); misrule in Cuba, 630; war 
with, 532-534. 
Spaniards, the, 23. 
Spanish colonization, character of, 23, 

534. 
Speaker, Clay the first great, 280; 

power of the, 516. 
Spoils system, the, 324, 506, 607. 
Spotswood, Alexander, 122. 
Spottsylvania, battle of, 452. 
" Stalwarts," the, 506. 
Stamp Act, the, 175; the Stamp Act 

Congress, 177; repealed, 178. 
Stanton, E. M., Secretary of War, 429; 

portrait, 429; removed, 477. 
StanwLx, Fort, 202. 
Stark, John, 202. 
Steamboat, Fulton's, 270; influence, 

271, 299. 
Stephens, Alexander, Confederate 

Vice-President, 415. 
Steuben, Baron, 204. 
Stevenson, Adlai E., elected Vice- 
President, 519; nominated for vice- 
presidency, 538. 
Stony Point captured, 207. 
Story, Joseph, 267. 
Stowe, Mrs., writes Uncle Tom's Cabin, 

384. 
Stuj^'esant, Peter, portrait, 103. 
Sullivan, General John, 206. 
Sumner, Charles, 386; portrait, 396; 

assault upon, 396; opinions, 471. 
Sumter, Fort, 413, 419. 
Superintendent of Finance, 217. 
Surplus revenue, distribution of, 331; 

reduction of, 508. 513, 514. 
Swedes, the, settle in America, 101. 

Taft, William II., 542. 

Talleyrand, Prince, 254, 255. 

Taney, Roger B., 325. 

Tariff, the first, 235; of 1816, 233; of 
1824, 309; of 1828, 319; of 1832, 32.8; 
of 1833, 328; of 1842, 350; of 1861, 
449; of 1890, 517; of 1895, 525; of 
1897, 529; a party question, 505, 
508. 513, 514, 517; opposition of 
the South, 319, 325, 328. 

Taylor, Zachary, 360; in Mexican 
War, 363-365; nominated for Presi- 
dent, 374; administration, 375-382; 
character, 375; portrait, 375. 



INDEX. 



595 



Tea Party, 184. 

Tea tax, 184. 

Tecumseh, 279. 286. 

Telegraph, invention, 353; first mes- 
sage, 358; the Atlantic cable, 479. 

Tennessee, settled, 217; admitted, 250; 
joins Confederacy, 420. 

Tenure of Office Act, 476, 477. 

Texas, 140 note. 353, 354; annexed, 
356-358; map, 357; bounds, 358, 
361, 364, 370; joins Confederacy, 
420. 

Thames, battle of, 286. 

Thomas, General Lorenzo, 477. 

Thomas, George H., 430, 447, 448, 
460; portrait, 447. 

Thompson, Jacob, 413. 

Thurman, Allen G., 513. 

Ticonderoga, taken by English, 147; 
taken by Americans, 192; taken by 
Burgoyne, 202. 

Tilden. S. J., nominated for presi- 
dency, 494; portrait, 495. 

Tippecanoe, battle of, 279. 

Tobacco, cultivation of, 43. 

Tompkins, D. D., elected Vice-Presi- 
dent. 295. 

Toscanelli, letter of. 13; map of, 14. 

Towns in New England, 83, 157, 
163. 

Townshend acts, the, 180; modifica- 
tion of, 181. 

Treaty, the American, of 1670, 125; 
of Utrecht, 138; of 1763, 148; of 
1783, 213; not fulfilled, 217, 246; of 
1794, 250; of 1806, by Monroe, 274; 
of 1814. 291; of 1842, 351; the Ore- 
gon, 361; the Mexican, 369; of Wash- 
ington, 486; with Spain, 302, 534, 

Trent affair, the, 429. 

Trenton, battle of, 200. 

Tripoli, 223. 

Tyler, .Tohn, character, 346; nomi- 
nated for Vice-President, 346; Presi- 
dent, 349-358; and Texas, 354-357. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin, 384. 

Underground railroad, 400. 

Union, plans of, 103, 104, 139; the New 

England confederation, 91. 
United States, original boundaries of, 

213; development of, 645-557. See 

also Annexation. 



United States bank. See Bank. 
Utah mentioned, 550. 

Valley Forge, 204. 

Van Buren, Martin. Secretary of State, 
325; Vice-President, 330; elected 
President, 338; administration, 339- 
348; in 1844, 354, 355; nominated 
for President, 374. 

Venezuelan dispute, 525. 

Vermont admitted, 250. 

Verrazano, 29. 

Vespucius, Americus, voyages of, 20; 
American named from, 21. 

Vicksburg, capture of, 446. 

Vikings, the, 5. 

Vinland, 5. 

Virginia, early history, 32-54; charter, 
first, 1606, 36; map of grant, 35; 
second, 1609, 40; map of grant, 41; 
third, 1612, 45; Great Charter, 1618, 
46; House of Burgesses, establish- 
ment of, 46; becomes a royal colony, 
48; character, 53; in eighteenth cen- 
tury. 122-124; life in, 154-156; edu- 
cation, 156; local government, 164; 
Bill of Rights, 197; joins Confeder- 
acy, 420. 

Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, 
256. 

Walker, Robert J., 359, 

Wall Street, 236. 

Walpole, Horace, quoted, 148. 

War, intercolonial, 127, 128-138; Rev- 
olutionary, 190-214; of 1812, 281- 
291 ; effect of, 292; with Mexico, 362- 
369; the civil, 418-468; with Spain, 
532-534. 

Washington admitted, 514. 

Washington city, the capital, 241, 257 
note; taken by British, 289. 

Washington, George, portrait, frontis- 
piece; meets the French, 140; at 
Braddock's Field, 142; made com- 
mander, 192; character, 192, 251; 
defends New York, 198; retreats 
across New Jersey, 199; at Trenton 
and Princeton, 200; his skill, 200; 
given authority, 201; at Brandy- 
wine, 203; at Germantown, 203; at 
Monmouth, 206; at Yorktown, 211; 
his accounts, opp. 214; in Phila- 



59fi THE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION. 



delphia convention, 224; President, 
233-252; farewell address, 251; 
Trenton reception, 259. 

Watertown remonstrance, 81. 

Watson, Thomas E., 528. 

Wayne, General Anthony, 207; de- 
feats Indians, 249. 

Weaver, James B., 620. 

Webster, Daniel, quoted, 222, 551; 
enters Congress, 279; opposed to 
tariff, 293; reply to Hayne, 327; 
portrait, 327; in Tyler's Cabinet, 
350; makes treaty, 351; 7th of 
March speech, 379; death, 385. 

West, the, migration to, 297-300; prog- 
ress of, 249, 336, 550. 

Western land claims, 219; given up, 
220; map, 219. 

Western reserve, 221. 

West India Company, 98. 

West Virginia admitted, 422. 

Wheeler, W. A., elected Vice-Presi- 
dent, 494, 497. 

Whig party (see Party); named, 330; 
divided on slavery question, 373. 

Whisky rebellion, 245. 

Whisky ring, the, 490. 

White, John, 77. 

White Plains, battle of, 199. 

Whittier, J. G., 553. 



Wilderness, battle of, 452. 

Wilkinson, General J., 269, 288. 

William and Mary College, view of. 
168. 

William III, 95, 138. 

Williams, Roger, 84, 85. 

Wilmot proviso, the, 368. 

Wilson, Henry, elected Vice-President, 
488. 

Wilson, James, portrait, 224; in Phila- 
delphia convention, 224, 225. 

Winsor, Justin, 553. 

Winthrop, John, portrait of, 81. 

Winthrop, John, Jr., portrait of, 87. 

Wisconsin admitted, 376. 

Wolfe, General James, 147, 148. 

World's Fair, the, 523, 553; view at, 
557. 

Writs of assistance, 173. 

Wyatt, Sir Francis, 47. 

Wyoming, massacre of, 206. 

Wyoming admitted, 514; mentioned, 
550. 

X Y Z affair, 254. 

Yeardley, George, 46. 
Yorktown, surrender at, 211. 

Zenger, John, tried for libel, 121. 



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